Both the House and Senate are in recess today.
Negotiations over an omnibus spending package remained far from complete Thursday night as the late arrival of a White House supplemental funding request threw a wrench in the talks. The White House on Thursday formally asked lawmakers to attach to the fiscal 2022 spending package $32.5 billion in emergency funds for government response efforts to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and Russian war with Ukraine. The long-awaited details from the administration on its justification for the extra spending, on top of the roughly $1.5 trillion expected to be appropriated for the current fiscal year, come barely a week before stopgap funding expires March 11th. While both parties are eager to provide aid to Ukraine, Republicans continue to question whether additional appropriations are needed for the pandemic when funds are still available from prior relief laws. Republicans largely oppose additional funding to address the pandemic, saying there is money that hasn’t yet been spent. Congress has approved roughly $4 trillion in coronavirus aid for vaccines and treatment and for economic relief. Republicans have called for additional oversight into that money before spending more.
The White House supplemental request also did not include any disaster aid, angering Louisiana Republican Senators Bill Cassidy and John Kennedy, who are seeking nearly $2 billion to help their state recover from multiple hurricanes over the past two years. Top appropriators have acknowledged that another continuing resolution may likely have to be passed to prevent a government shutdown at this critical time.
The Senate stands adjourned until 3:00 P.M. on Monday, March 7th and will resume consideration of H.R.3076, Postal Service Reform Act. Cloture was filed during Wednesday’s session and at 5:30 P.M., the Senate will vote on cloture.
The House will return for votes on Monday, March 7th at 6:30 P.M. The House is scheduled to be in session Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday next week, with House Democrats holding their Issues Conference on Thursday and Friday in Philadelphia.
