APPROPRIATIONS/BUDGET NEWS
Democrats make counter funding offer on 302(B)s funding levels
Bloomberg reported that Democrats made a new offer to Republicans for resolving the impasse over the FY 20 funding levels:
“House Democrats made an offer on the set of 12 allocations shortly before Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and House Appropriations Chairwoman Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.) entered a meeting with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Senate Appropriations Chairman Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), Lowey told reporters.
“The allocations agreement may require a change to the budget caps deal signed into law in July (Public Law 116-37), as Democrats have proposed a plan that would change the overall spending levels through emergency spending or cap adjustments, a House Democratic aide said. Because that would require a change in law, the Trump administration would have to agree to that plan.”
Various media reports confuse when these new numbers will be revealed or agreed upon.
Following yesterday’s meeting with Pelosi, Mnunchin, Lowey and Shelby, Politico reported that the FY 20 302(b) numbers could be settled no later than Nov. 18:
“Officials from both parties emerged from the meeting confident that they could settle on concrete spending amounts over the weekend – a deal that would likely avoid a paralyzing government-wide shutdown this winter. It would finally allow Congress to begin passing spending bills and avoid a dreaded year-long funding patch.”
However, Bloomberg reports that the new allocations will not be settled until later next week:
“Lowey said she hopes to strike a deal on a bicameral set of allocations by [Wednesday] Nov. 20, the day before government funding expires. Lawmakers already plan to rely on a second stopgap measure to fund the government through Dec. 20.
“‘There was a general agreement from all sides that it was important to get our work done and we intend to move forward and get our work done by Nov. 20,’ Lowey said.”
Disagreement over funding of the Trump wall has been the major impediment for finalizing the FY 20 spending caps. Politico reports, there may be a deal in the works to get around the issues:
“‘Republicans appear willing to set aside discussing the wall for now in hopes of achieving the bipartisan goal of finalizing the allocations,’ a senior Democratic aide said after the meeting.”
“One idea is to use emergency cash to pay for bipartisan initiatives like the VA Mission Act – a new veterans program that Trump himself has championed – that could free up some money for DHS.
“That would not resolve the border wall issue, but it would at least allow both parties to move past it for now as they begin work on other funding bills.”
The House will vote next week on a second CR that will extend the funding deadline until December 20th.
For more information, contact:
Jerry Chouinard
Deep Water Point Legislative Affairs Lead
jerry.chouinard@deepwaterpoint.com
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