Congressional lawmakers grew impatient to see a massive government funding and virus aid package that Senate and House officials struggled to print and distribute thanks to a computer glitch.
The 5,000-plus page document was nowhere to be found in the Capitol Monday morning when lawmakers were scheduled to debate and vote on the bill before leaving town for the year. The bill was uploaded by 2 p.m.
The vote remains scheduled for today, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, said.
The historically broad measure provides $900 billion in new federal aid to combat the impact of the coronavirus, and it is bundled with other legislation, including the $1.4 trillion package to fund the government through 2021. It also includes a $10 billion measure to reauthorize the nation’s water infrastructure projects and a national intelligence reauthorization measure.
Sen. Majority Whip John Thune, a South Dakota Republican, told reporters in the Capitol Monday that the bill had “bogged down” due to a computer problem.
“It’s a huge project, bigger than anything we’ve done in the time I’ve been here,” Thune explained. “And, unfortunately, it’s a bad time for a computer glitch.”
The missing text of the bill riled up lawmakers already uneasy about the rush to pass such a significant and extensive piece of legislation.
Dozens of conservative House lawmakers who belong to the Freedom Caucus have already pledged to vote against it, although their numbers are not significant enough to sink the bill.
Liberal lawmakers, meanwhile, were also frustrated.
“Congress is expected to vote on the second largest bill in US history *today* – $2.5 trillion – and as of about 1pm, members don’t even have the legislative text of it yet,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a New York Democrat, tweeted Monday afternoon. “It’s not good enough to hear about what’s in the bill. Members of Congress need to see & read the bills we are expected to vote on. I know it’s ‘controversial’ & I get in trouble for sharing things like this, but the people of this country deserve to know. They deserve better.”
Congress in recent years has typically passed a major year-end spending package to fund the government, and it is often bundled with other must-pass legislation.
The spending and coronavirus aid package is especially large, however, thanks to additional federal money to help the nation battle the pandemic and other last-minute add-ons.
The deal will provide $300 billion to small businesses, a new round of $600 stimulus checks, more enhanced federal jobless pay, money for schools, hospitals, and vaccine distribution, as well as rental assistance and a 15% increase in food stamps.
It also adds language to phase out ozone-depleting air conditioning refrigerants and extends some expiring tax breaks, among many other provisions.
Thune said staff plans to get summaries to lawmakers as soon as possible. The House is scheduled to take up the bill this afternoon.
“I suspect that all hands are on deck trying to fix it, and hopefully they’ll get that done soon enough to get the bill printed so the House can act,” Thune told reporters. “And I think the intention, you’ve heard the leader say earlier today, is to vote on it today in the Senate.”
