Virus Relief and Budget Bill Coming Down to the Wire

L . Thomas Block

With only two weeks before the Congressional adjournment for the elections, the focus in Washington remains centered on two main things: approving the “must pass” budget bill in order to forestall a government shutdown on October 1st and continued jockeying on a possible massive coronavirus relief package.

There are positive reports from the House and Senate that the leaders are close to an agreement on a Continuing Resolution (CR) to keep the government functioning past October 1st and through the current fiscal year. A few weeks ago, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Mnuchin agreed that both sides would withhold any election year hot button issues and Congress would approve a so-called “clean” bill with no controversial amendments.

There has been some disagreement on how long the CR would run. Democrats wanted the temporary spending bill to fund the government until February of next year to allow the newly elected Congress and perhaps a President Biden to set the priorities. Republicans wanted to make sure they had one more bite at the fiscal apple when they control the White House and Senate. At this point it looks like the Republican position will prevail and that the CR will run until mid-December. If the Democrats win the White House or capture the Senate, they can of course open spending decisions again in January with new priorities.

The week ended with a ray of hope that there could be a large coronavirus package in the next two weeks. Speaker Pelosi said that the House would not leave Washington until a virus relief package was approved, and the President tweeted “Go for the much higher numbers, Republicans, it all comes back to the USA anyway (one way or another!).”

Additionally, a bipartisan group of moderate Members put forth a $1.5 Trillion package that the White House was positive about, but the Speaker viewed as inadequate. A growing number of House Democrats believe they need to pass some bill before they spend the month of October home campaigning, but at this point the Speaker remains stuck on $2.2 Trillion. Next week will be critical if a bill is to be passed prior to the election.

Disclosures (show)