A stand-alone COVID-19 relief funding bill faces a difficult path forward in Congress as the White House warned over the weekend it may have to end some relief programs without more funding.
In an effort to pass the funding bill last week prior to a Friday deadline, Democratic leaders stripped approximately $15.6 billion in COVID-19 relief funding from the omnibus spending bill amid disputes over how to pay for the funds.
“I was very disappointed,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters at a New York City press conference on Monday. “I have to say, I mean, I usually would not say that. This is the president’s pivotal plan. We’ll have to get it done, and what would be my hope that we could bring up a bill this week that would do at least part of that, but we shouldn’t even have to have this challenge, in my view.”
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Pelosi said that President Joe Biden is navigating an “important pivot,” trying to return society to normal while also looking out for the medically vulnerable or those with children too young to be vaccinated. She argued the virus has not gone away, noting three positive COVID-19 cases among lawmakers over the weekend, as well as former President Barack Obama.
But the disputes over the funding appear unresolved, leaving a path forward for a stand-alone bill unclear.
Republicans insisted that additional COVID-19 funding should be offset by other cuts, so Democratic leadership proposed covering half the costs by tapping into unspent state funds from previous pandemic aid packages. But some Democratic lawmakers objected, saying their states already had plans in place for these unspent funds, prompting leadership to remove the provision to win the necessary votes to pass the omnibus and avert a looming government shutdown.
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Pelosi was visibly frustrated by questions about that decision in a press conference last week but wrote in an earlier “Dear Colleague” letter she saw the loss of COVID-19 funds in the bill as “heartbreaking.”
