CD221: Kicking the Funding Can

Surprise, surprise! Congress failed to fund the government on time again. In this episode, discover the hidden secrets in the bill that temporarily funds the government and the politics behind the dingleberries that hitched a ride into law.

Executive Producer: Brooks Rogers

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CD213: CARES Act - The Trillions for COVID-19 Law, Listen on Spotify

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Bills

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H.R. 8337: Continuing Appropriations Act, 2021 and Other Extensions Act

Passed House: September 22, 359-17-1

Passed Senate: September 30, 84-10

Text

Outline

Division A: Continuing Appropriations Act

Extends government funding from 2020 at the same levels until December 11, 2021

Section 125: Gives permission to the Secretary of the Navy to spend over $1.6 billion to enter into a contract for who Columbia class submarines

Section 140: Amends the CARES Act to extend the expiration date of Section 3610, which allows any government agency to to change their contracts to allow the government to pay for up to 40 Horus per week of paid leave that contractors pay for their employees. This only applies to contractors who can’t work because their facilities are closed and can’t do their work remotely. The expiration is shifted from September 30 to December 11.

Section 159: Extends the authority from the CARES Act, which expired on September 30, for the Library of Congress to reimburse the Little Scholars Child Development Center and Tiny Findings Development Center for salaries for employees who can’t work due to COVID-19 closures in the capitol. It also extends the authority for the government to pay the salaries of contractors that work on the capitol until the end of the public emergency. The authorities are extended until the end of the public emergency declared by the Secretary of Health and Human Services.

Section 170: Adds $728 billion to the $550 billion appropriated in the 2020 funding law for loan guarantees for mortgage backed securities

Section 173: Extends the borrowing limit for the Commodity Credit Corporation to reimburse it for net realized losses as of September 17, 2020.

Division B: Surface Transportation Program Extension

Section 1104: Allows Federal funds to be used to cover operating losses for food and beverage service on Amtrak

Division D : Other Matters

Section 4102: Authorizes the Secretary of Homeland Security to establish fees ranging between $1,500 and $2,500 for applications for employment based immigration.

Section 4303: Permanently reauthorizes antitrust provisions that encourages corporations to cooperate in antirust civil cases by limiting the fines that can be imposed upon cooperating companies.

Section 4601: Expands eligibility for food stamps for children who usually get meals provided at school to include children in hybrid model schools and day cares.

Section 4602: Extends the states’ authority to apply for waivers for school meal requirements in order to provide meals in a COVID-safe way until September 30, 2021

Section 4603: Gives the states the ability to extend certification periods for households receiving food assistance to December 31, 2021, and to adjust interview requirements through June 30, 2021, if they want to, without getting permission from the Secretary of Agriculture

Section 4604: Prohibits the Secretary of Agriculture from using funding, facilities, or authorities of the Commodity Credit Corporation to provide payments to refiners or importers of fossil fuels unless the payments are for biofuels and prohibits the Commodity Credit Corporation from exchanging fossil fuel products for agricultural products until the end of March 2021.

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Articles/Documents

• Article: Senate GOP, setting aside Covid-19 fears, on track for quick Barrett confirmation this month By Manu Raju and Ted Barrett, CNN, October 8, 2020
• Article: Lindsey Graham refuses to take COVID test for Senate debate in SC By Jacob Knutson, Axios, October 8, 2020
• Article: Top White House aide hosted lavish Atlanta wedding in May despite virus restrictions By Patricia Murphy and Greg Bluestein, AJC, October 8, 2020
• Article: Grassley won’t be tested for Covid, Ernst tests negative By O. Kay Henderson, Radio Iowa, October 5, 2020
• Article: How Mark Meadows Became the White House’s Unreliable Source By Tim Alberta, Politico, October 4, 2020
• Article: Department Of Justice Applauds President Trump’s Authorization Of The Antitrust Criminal Penalty Enhancement And Reform Permanent Extension Act By IVN, Imperial Valley News, October 4, 2020
• Article: Sen. Thom Tillis spokesperson says he has mild symptoms of COVID-19, no fever and is in great spirits, Eyewitness 11 News, October 3, 2020
• Article: Concerns Mount Over US Capitol's Lack of COVID-19 Requirements as President Tests Positive By Scott MacFarlane and Sophia Barnes, 4 Washington, October 2, 2020
• Article: MBS Performance at Five-Year Low By Phil Hall, DSNews, October 2, 2020
• Article: Judge blocks big hike in application fees for citizenship and other immigration benefits By Daniel Gonzalez, Arizona Republic, azcentral., September 30, 2020
• Article: Trump Signs Shutdown-Averting Stopgap Spending Bill By Eric Katz, Government Executive, September 30, 2020
• Article: Trump signs stopgap spending measure to avert a shutdown By Caitlin Emma, Politico, September 30, 2020
• Article: Trump Signs Stopgap Spending Bill to Keep Government Funded By Emily Cochrane, The New York Times, September 30, 2020
• Article: House stopgap spending bill includes $1.6B for Columbia-class subs By Rebecca Kheel, The Hill, September 21, 2020
• Article: House Republican introduces amendment to include farm aid in stopgap funding bill By Juliegrace Brufke, The Hill, September 21, 2020
• Article: Democrats and Republicans Clash Over Spending Bill to Avoid Shutdown By Emily Cochrane, The New York Times, September 21, 2020
• Article: Trump vows to give billions more in farm aid as he looks for support from rural voters. By Alan Rappeport, The New York Times, September 18, 2020
• Article: Mortgage Securities Are Flooding the Market. Thank the Fed. By Orla McCaffrey, The Wall Street Journal, September 16, 2020
• Article: Trump administration eyes at least $300 million aid to refiners denied biofuel waivers: sources By Stephanie Kelly, Jarrett Renshaw, Reuters, September 16, 2020
• Article: Independent Watchdog Report Finds Inequity in Farm Aid Payments By Alan Rappeport, The New York Times, September 14, 2020
• Report: Report to Congress on Columbia-class Nuclear Ballistic Missile Submarine Program By Congressional Research Service, USNI News, September 11, 2020
• Article: White House asks for flexibility in Space Force funding in stopgap spending measure By Rebecca Kheel, The Hill, September 8, 2020
• Document: Navy Columbia (SSBN-826) Class Ballistic Missile Submarine Program: Background and Issues for Congress By Congressional Research Service, September 8, 2020
• Article: Budget dysfunction threatens delays to US Navy’s Columbia program By David B. Larter and Joe Gould, Defense News, September 3, 2020
• Article: Geurts: Early Contract Awards During Pandemic Giving Navy Bandwidth to Plan for Possible Continuing Resolution By Megan Eckstein, USNI News, September 1, 2020
• Article: Bad blood between Pelosi, Meadows complicates coronavirus talks By Mike Lillis and Scott Wong, The Hill, August 31, 2020
• Article: USDA MARKET FACILITATION PROGRAM: Information on Payments for 2019 By Steve Morris , Government Accountability Office, August 21, 2020
• Article: There’s about $130 billion left in the PPP pot. Why small businesses are slow to claim cash, By Darla Mercado, CNBC, June 11, 2020
• Article: Breaking Down the US Federal Budget | Charts and Graphs, Up to Us, June 3, 2020
• Article: COVID Pandemic a Barrier to Navy’s Oversight of Columbia Submarine Industrial Base; PEO Working on Virtual Oversight By Megan Eckstein, USNI News, June 2, 2020
• Article: 'Astonishing': Trump EPA backs down on biofuel waivers in blow to U.S. refiners By Stephanie Kelly, Reuters, March 25, 2020
• Article: The Commodity Credit Corporation: In Brief By Megan Stubbs, Congressional Research Service, September 4, 2019
• Article: Ted Cruz and the Death of Conservatism By Jonathan Chait, New York Intelligencer, September 18, 2018

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Additional Resources

• Appropriations Status Table: FY2021, Congressional Research Service
• Book: Monopolized: Life in the Age of Corporate Power, By David Dayen, July, 2020
• Bill: H.R. 7794: Emergency SNAP Flexibilities Extension Act, govtrack, July 27, 2020
• Blog: Allowing Ourselves Grace in these Troubling Times, CLASP: The Center for Law and Social Policy, 2020
• Homepage: Priority Enrollment Categories, Tiny Findings, 2020
• Report: Frequently Asked Questions about the Federal Budget, House Committee on the Budget, Chairman John Yarmuth, December 3, 2019
• 2017 Summary Statement and Initiatives: GOVERNMENT NATIONAL MORTGAGE ASSOCIATION MORTGAGE-BACKED SECURITIES PROGRAM, HUD, 2017
• Library of Congress New Employee Orientation Guide, Library of Congress, 2015
• Board of Directors, General Dynamics
• Reelection Rates Over the Years, OpenSecrets.org
• General Dynamics, OpenSecrets.org
• Client Profile: General Dynamics, OpenSecrets.org
• Appropriations: Rep. Norm Dicks - Washington District 06, OpenSecrets.org
• Appropriations: Rep. Jim Moran - Virginia District 08, OpenSecrets.org
• 48 CFR § 16.306 - Cost-plus-fixed-fee contracts.
• Origins & Development: From the Constitution to the Modern House Funding Gaps and Shutdowns in the Federal Government, History, Art & Archives, United States House of Representatives

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Sound Clip Sources

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Hearing: Continuing Resolution to Fund the Government, U.S. House of Representatives, House Appropriations Committee, September 22, 2020

Transcript:

9:00 Steny Hoyer: Briefly want to say to the Appropriations Committee, congratulations for doing your work. I know there was controversy, everybody didn't support it. But we passed 10 of the 12 appropriation bills almost two months ago. Clearly sufficient time to reach agreement and pass the appropriation bills, not a CR. CR is a recognition of failure. Failure of to get our work done in a timely fashion. And I regret that I take some credit for passing 10 bills last year, in June, and 10 bills this year in July. I pushed the Appropriations Committee pretty hard. Staff worked hard, members worked hard. And we got our bills done.The Senate has not introduced - has not marked up - a single bill in committee. There's no bill out of committee, there's no bills on the floor, which means that the Senate has essentially abandoned the appropriations process. Madam Speaker, that's not the way the Congress the United States ought to work.

11:00 Steny Hoyer: From now, until hopefully before December 11, that's a Friday - we're scheduled to break for Christmas and the holidays - I'm hopeful that everyone will put their heads together to get the appropriation process done. And we'll probably do it in an omnibus, not single appropriation bills, which is not a good way to do it either. When I joined the Appropriations Committee, and we passed one bill at a time, the Senate passed one bill at a time, and we came to conference and sat down together, the members of the Defense Committee, the members of the Treasury, postal committee and labor health committees, we came together individually, and we worked out agreements between the two bodies. That is the way it ought to work. It's not working that way. And a world of alternatives, this is the best we have. So we need to take it.

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Cover Art

Design by Only Child Imaginations

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Music Presented in This Episode

Intro & Exit: Tired of Being Lied To by David Ippolito (found on Music Alley by mevio)