House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday defended the overnight release of a massive spending deal needed to avert a government shutdown during a tumultuous day for the bill on Capitol Hill.
In a move to secure the votes to pass the bill, Democratic leaders stripped approximately $15.6 billion in COVID-19 relief funding from an omnibus spending bill they are seeking to pass on Wednesday before departing to a scheduled retreat in Philadelphia. The ensuing intraparty dispute over the aid left their schedules in disarray and delayed a vote on the bill. Lawmakers don’t have much time to lose in order to pass the bill with a Friday deadline looming.
Asked if she regrets unveiling the omnibus bill in the middle of the night the day they were supposed to vote, leaving lawmakers with little time to review the bill, the California Democrat replied, “No.”
DESPITE MAJORITY, HOUSE DEMOCRATS SWALLOW ANTI-ABORTION SPENDING BILL PROVISION
“Let’s grow up about this,” Pelosi said. “We are in a legislative process. We have a deadline.”
Pelosi argued that “every line” of a spending bill is a negotiation, that the House has to ensure the bill can get 60 votes in the Senate, and appeared visibly frustrated when asked about objections to the loss of COVID-19 funds from her Democratic members.
“You’re telling Noah about the flood. I didn’t get what I wanted in this bill,” Pelosi said, arguing legislation involves compromise.
The omnibus bill would avert a shutdown and provide approximately $13.6 billion in military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine amid Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of the country.
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Pelosi was more conciliatory in a “Dear Colleague” letter earlier Wednesday, telling members she saw the loss of COVID-19 funds in the bill as “heartbreaking.”
