Democrats pitch funding plan; Republicans, president object

WASHINGTON — Democrats controlling the House unveiled a temporary funding bill Monday that would keep federal agencies fully up and running into December. The measure would prevent a partial shutdown of the government after the current budget year expires at the end of the month, but Republicans immediately protested, and a Senate floor fight appears likely.

The temporary funding measure provoked Republicans and President Donald Trump, who were denied a provision that would give the administration continued authority to dole out Agriculture Department farm bailout funds. With just nine days before the end of the fiscal year, a potential shutdown can’t be dismissed.

“The Continuing Resolution introduced today will avert a catastrophic shutdown in the middle of the ongoing pandemic, wildfires and hurricanes, and keep government open until December 11, when we plan to have bipartisan legislation to fund the government for this fiscal year,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said in a statement.

Pelosi had initially indicated she would add language that would permit Trump to continue releasing aid to farmers that would otherwise be delayed, but she pulled back after protests from other Democrats, who complain that the Trump administration has favored Southern states such as Georgia — a key swing state and home of Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue — and larger producers in distributing bailout funds.

Farmers are suffering from low commodity prices and the effects of higher tariffs imposed by Trump.

“The Trump administration has proven they cannot be trusted to distribute payments fairly,” said Sen. Debbie Stabenow of Michigan, top Democrat on the Agriculture Committee.

The stopgap funding bill comes as negotiations on a new covid-19 relief bill have collapsed and as the Capitol has been thrust into an unprecedented political drama with Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death.

Besides the farm-aid money, other aspects of the legislation had been agreed on in negotiations among Democratic and Republican congressional leaders and the White House. Called a continuing resolution, or CR in Washington-speak, it would keep every federal agency running at current funding levels.

The measure also extends many programs whose funding or authorizations lapse Sept. 30, including the federal flood insurance program, highway and transit programs, and a long set of extensions of various health programs such as a provision to prevent Medicaid cuts to hospitals that serve many poor people.

It also finances the possible transition to a new administration if Democrat Joe Biden wins the White House and would stave off an unwelcome covid-caused increase in Medicare Part B premiums for outpatient doctor visits.

REPUBLICANS RESPOND

“We do prefer additional farm aid in the CR,” said Trump economic adviser Larry Kudlow. “Most of all we want a clean CR to keep the government open.”

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., took to Twitter to say the temporary funding bill “shamefully leaves out key relief and support that American farmers need. This is no time to add insult to injury and defund help for farmers and rural America.”

Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, who is in a tough reelection battle, called on her colleagues to fight for the agriculture funding.

“This is no time for political games. I’m calling on all of my farm-state colleagues in the House and the Senate — Republicans and Democrats — to stand with farmers and demand this support be included in the upcoming government funding bill,” she said in a statement.

Both McConnell and Ernst stopped short of saying the bill should be blocked without the aid for farmers.

Congressional aides close to the talks had depicted the farm provision as a bargaining chip to seek comparable wins for Democrats, but Pelosi requests for provisions related to the census and funding for states to help them carry out elections this fall were denied by GOP negotiators.

Senate Republicans from farm states pushed for $30 billion to replenish funding for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Commodity Credit Corp., a government-owned entity that aims to stabilize farm income. Democrats had included $30 billion in direct covid-19 farm aid in their stalled relief bill passed in May.

Trump announced $13 billion in coronavirus relief for U.S. farmers and ranchers Thursday night during a rally in the swing state of Wisconsin, angering some Democrats.

VOTE THIS WEEK

The release of the legislation paves the way for a House vote this week — as soon as today, according to a Democratic aide — and Pelosi appears to be calculating that Republicans controlling the Senate would have little choice but to accept it. Legislation requires Democratic votes to pass the Senate, but McConnell could structure Senate votes that would make Democrats, especially those from farm country, uncomfortable, or even put them in the position of filibustering the measure and risking blame for any shutdown.

“None of us has any interest in shutting down government,” Pelosi said Sunday. “That has such a harmful and painful impact on so many people in our country, so I would hope that we can just proceed. We’re not going to be shutting down government.”

At issue is the 30% of the federal government’s day-today budget that goes to Cabinet agency operations funded by Congress each year. The appropriations process broke down in the Senate this year and it’s unlikely that the $1.3 trillion in agency spending bills will be enacted this year, even in a postelection lame-duck session, especially if Biden is elected to replace Trump.

In the past, both Democrats and Republicans have sought to use government funding deadlines and must-pass temporary funding bills as leverage to try to win concessions elsewhere on their agenda. Such efforts invariably fail.

On Friday, Democrats floated the possibility of providing the farm funds in exchange for $2 billion in child-nutrition money, but that was never finalized before Pelosi called Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to cancel the trade-off, according to aides. The House bill left out the child-nutrition money for a program that runs out at the end of the month.