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The House’s foreign aid proposal “makes it clear” that “America is back,” Pelosi said, noting that the bill would provide more than $ 3 billion to fight climate change, including by providing for the financing of contributions to the Greens for the first time. Climate Fund.
Despite the display of democratic harmony, Congress will likely fail again to pass new spending totals before the start of the next fiscal year on October 1. Lawmakers are expected to pass another interim spending bill in September, as the Senate is only just beginning its work. this summer Towards funding, the government and party leaders did not agree on overall totals for defense and non-defense programs. This temporary patch could create a fiscal cliff in December, a familiar pressure point ahead of the Washington vacation.
The House also plans to vote later this week on a $ 600 billion fundraising plan in seven bills, marking the passage of a total of nine spending measures. Democratic leaders have yet to sufficiently support the three bills that fund the Departments of Defense, Homeland Security, Commerce and Justice, with the caucus divided on issues such as the Pentagon budget, l immigration and police funding.
Republicans argued in debate Wednesday that spending bills are “overfunded” at the expense of the military and a waste of time deliberating in the absence of a broader bipartisan agreement on the distribution of government funding .
“They will not be taken over by the Senate and they will not become law,” complained Rep. Guy Reschenthaler (R-Pa.) Of the bills. “With the looming September 30 deadline for funding the government, I just hope my Liberal colleagues across the way work with the Republicans to craft a two-party appropriation measure that can get to the president’s desk.”
Ground action on the legislative branch and state-foreign operations bills was repeatedly delayed Wednesday as Republicans forced several procedural votes to protest a new requirement that lawmakers and staff to the House are putting on their masks to mitigate the spread of the Delta variant.
“This institution is a sham, and we should adjourn and close this place,” said Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) after calling for a vote to stop House action for the day.
Representative Tim Ryan (D-Ohio), who oversees the funding of the legislative branch, pointed out that lawmakers are coming from hot spots across the country, putting people with immunosuppression and others at risk at risk.
“I hate these things. Absolutely terrible to have to put them back on, ”Ryan said of the face masks. “But we are doing it because the best doctor has asked us to.”
In their measure of legislative power, Democrats have once again decided to forgo a controversial pay rise for lawmakers – a cost-of-living increase that members of Congress have not received in over a decade. . The bill also orders the architect of the Capitol to propose a plaque that honors law enforcement officers who defended the building during the January 6 uprising.
House lawmakers passed an amendment to the Legislative Branch bill to increase funding by over $ 3.5 million to remove accessibility barriers across the more than 200-year-old Capitol .
The House rejected a proposal by Representative Glenn Grothman (R-Wis.) That would have removed language allowing some immigrants to work in Congress if they meet the requirements of the Deferred Action Program for Childhood Arrivals. Lawmakers also removed another Grothman Amendment that would have cost the House office responsible for promoting diversity and inclusion $ 1.5 million.
The State-Foreign Operations measure proposes an increase of more than 12% over current funding, including more than $ 18 billion for the State Department and $ 1.8 billion for the United States Agency for International Development. The bill does not include long-standing bans on foreign aid used to support abortion providers – an omission Republicans call a “fatal flaw” that will hamper government funding this year.
Heather Caygle contributed to this report.
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