Congress is looking to adjourn for the year next week after passing a four-month spending bill and approving legislation authorizing defense and water projects.
After a divisive political year, the session is poised to end on a bipartisan note. Lawmakers have struck a deal to provide federal money to Flint, Mich., where lead has contaminated the water supply.
“I think everybody will be quite happy with the outcome,” said Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. “This is a compromise from both sides of the aisle, to find common ground and actually solve a problem.”
The Flint funds will be authorized in the fiscal 2017 legislation authorizing federal water projects. The money will likely be added to the short-term government spending bill.
Democrats have been clamoring for federal money for Flint since the contamination was disclosed more than two and a half years ago. It’s estimated that up to 12,000 Flint-area children were exposed to lead. Republicans had resisted spending federal money on Flint, arguing local water and infrastructure problems should be handled by the states.
“One way or another, we are going to get the money,” said House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. “I feel confident [Speaker Paul Ryan] will keep his promise to us in that regard.”
Meanwhile, the short-term government funding bill runs out on Dec. 9, and Republican leaders are aiming to bring a four-month spending bill to the floor by Thursday.
In addition to spending and water projects legislation, House lawmakers will also take up a bill that would set international insurance standards.
The GOP is eager to conclude the year and begin planning for a new Congress that will give them control of both chambers and the White House for the first time since 2001.
“It is our hope that we can be finished by Dec. 8, but nobody predicts what happens on this floor,” McCarthy said.
McCarthy said the House won’t leave until it completes the spending and water project legislation. “I believe we can finish this up and be done on time,” he said.
Over in the Senate, the to-do list is a bit longer.
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said the chamber will take up the House-passed medical innovation legislation as well as the water projects bill after it passes the House. Senate lawmakers will also vote on a $619 billion bill authorizing defense spending that House lawmakers passed on Friday.
The water projects legislation could hit a speed bump, however. Democrats said they will resist a GOP move to strip a union-backed provision in the bill that would require water projects to use American-made material.
“That would be problematic for us,” Pelosi said. “We have a very big concern about that.”
