Budget ready for spin

The Senate passed a $1.5 trillion package Thursday night that funds the federal government through September and delivers $14 billion to help Ukraine, clearing the bill for President Joe Biden’s signature.

The package finally cements the fresh budgets Democrats have sought since former President Donald Trump left office and ends the string of spending patches that has kept federal agencies running on static funding levels since the new fiscal year kicked off in October.

Leaders in both parties have declared the legislation a win. Democrats boast of the almost 7 percent increase they secured for non-defense agencies, increasing that funding to $730 billion. Top Republicans tout the $782 billion they locked in for national defense, a 6 percent hike from current spending.

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After a group of House Democrats revolted Wednesday against rerouting pandemic aid that was supposed to go to their states, tempers flared on the Senate floor once the upper chamber fielded the bill Thursday, complicating efforts to dispatch the measure to Biden’s desk.

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But the Senate made relatively quick time for the usually deliberative body. To lock in an agreement to fast-track debate, the chamber voted Thursday night on three GOP amendments.

The Senate voted 50-49 to defeat a proposal by Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) to end federal Covid vaccine mandates. The chamber also rejected 64-34 an amendment by Kennedy and his fellow Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy to provide extra assistance to aid recovery from several hurricanes that struck the Gulf Coast in recent years.

The chamber also voted 64-35 to shoot down an amendment from Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.) that would bar earmarks, a practice Congress revived for the first time in more than a decade by including billions of dollars in special projects within the package.

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Senate Appropriations Chair Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) defended the return of earmarks, noting new reforms to prevent corruption in the process.

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Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) privately raised concerns with the wording of the bill’s revival of protections under the Violence Against Women Act, which expired in early 2019. And Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) sought earlier Thursday to separate out a vote on $14 billion in Ukraine aid, arguing that would help deliver the assistance more quickly.

Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) objected, leaving both legislators fuming afterward.

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For months, Republicans refused to engage in negotiations unless Democrats buckled to their demands on controversial policy issues, like the Hyde amendment ban on federal funding for abortions. Democratic leaders largely agreed to those conditions in the end, including the abortion funding moratorium.

  Politico

Of course they did.

Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said he hoped that the two parties could resurrect a standalone Covid funding bill, though Senate Minority Whip John Thune (R-S.D.) said Republicans would not allow it to pass if it increased the deficit.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.