Congress seeks to do its day job

WASHINGTON — Even as lawmakers stumble in their quest to pass another coronavirus response measure, both the House and Senate sought to return to some semblance of normal business this week, passing annual must-do measures on spending and defense policy despite the challenges of legislating during a pandemic.

On Friday, the House passed a $259 billion funding bill for foreign aid and the Interior, Agriculture, and Veterans Affairs departments along party lines. The measure is the first annual spending measure to pass either the House or Senate this year, but it has scant chance of becoming law, serving instead as a springboard for negotiations down the line.

The annual process of appropriating federal spending — which has been a refuge of bipartisan deal-making during Trump’s presidency — has been eclipsed this year by coronavirus relief efforts. But funding the government remains the biggest must-do item for lawmakers on a legislative agenda that, due to the virus, has been trimmed back to the essentials.

Friday’s spending legislation is studded with $38 billion in emergency funding that violates the spirit of last year’s nearly-forgotten budget and debt accord, along with other provisions that are controversial with Republicans, but many of its nuts and bolts elements were generated in the Appropriations Committee’s tradition of bipartisan collaboration.

“The bipartisan budget agreement that was made last year has been completely ignored. Not only do these bills increase deficit spending, they include reckless partisan language,” said Rep. Kay Granger of Texas, top Republican on the Appropriations panel. “I hope that we can get back on track and send bills to the President that he can sign into law.”