This article is from the source 'nytimes' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/29/us/politics/congress-shutdown-flint-spending.html

The article has changed 6 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 2 Version 3
Flint Water Deal May Help Avert Government Shutdown Flint Water Deal Is Step Toward Averting Government Shutdown
(about 9 hours later)
WASHINGTON — House leaders have struck a deal on aid for the lead-tainted water system in Flint, Mich., potentially clearing a major hurdle as Congress tries to avert a government shutdown just days before the Friday deadline. WASHINGTON — Congress was poised on Wednesday to avert a government shutdown after the Senate approved a short-term spending bill that the House is likely to back. Lawmakers were eager to avoid a crisis and return home to campaign.
The agreement, released late Tuesday night, would authorize $170 million in spending to communities where the president has declared a state of emergency due to contaminants like lead. The stopgap spending bill, which would fund the government through Dec. 9, had been ensnarled in a debate over funding for the lead-tainted water system in Flint, Mich. But an agreement between congressional leaders late Tuesday — which would authorize aid for Flint as part of separate legislation for water infrastructure projects — appeared to ameliorate Democratic concerns, clearing the way for the Senate to pass the spending bill, 72 to 26.
The money would be included in an amendment to legislation to fund water infrastructure projects, which the House is expected to pass Wednesday. A version of that bill, which approved more than $200 million for Flint, passed the Senate earlier this month. In addition to keeping the government funded at current levels, the bill provides $1.1 billion to fight the Zika virus, without the restrictions on Planned Parenthood clinics that foiled earlier negotiations. It also includes funding for military infrastructure, housing and other services.
Speaker Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin said Wednesday that the legislation, the Water Resources Development Act, was the appropriate place to address the crisis in Flint. In an appearance at the Economic Club of Washington, he said the agreement should clear the way for a stopgap spending bill, and played down concerns that much of the government would shut down on Saturday. Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democratic leader, said Wednesday that he felt “very comfortable” with reassurances from Republicans that the House deal would result in aid for Flint.
“We should be able to move this through, I believe, by Friday,” Mr. Ryan said. “I’m convinced that there’s going to be help for Flint in the lame duck,” he said before the vote, referring to the session of Congress after the presidential election in November.
Aid for the city of about 100,000 people northwest of Detroit became the main point of contention in recent days in discussions over a short-term spending agreement to fund the federal government through Dec. 9, a separate negotiation that would prevent a shutdown. Michigan’s two senators, Debbie Stabenow and Gary Peters, both Democrats, opposed the bill. Ms. Stabenow said that while she was heartened by the movement on the House side, she would oppose any spending measure “that does not treat communities equally,” an apparent reference to emergency funding for flood-ravaged places in Louisiana, Maryland and West Virginia.
Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democratic leader, said Wednesday that he felt “very comfortable” with reassurances from Republicans that the House deal would result in aid for Flint. He signaled that Democrats would withdraw their objections to the stopgap spending bill and allow it to move forward, with a vote coming on the measure as soon as Wednesday afternoon. “It is wrong to ask families in Flint to wait at the back of the line again,” she said in a statement.
However, the House deal does not guarantee that Congress will beat the clock and avert a shutdown. Should the Senate approve the spending agreement, there are still several unresolved details on the House side, including provisions eliminated in Senate negotiations that would block a government plan to end its oversight of the internet’s master directory of website addresses and another regarding the number of hours truckers can log. Passage of a spending bill would allow Congress to avoid a shutdown like the one in 2013 that brought government operations across the country to a halt for 16 days.
And many conservative House members — part of a faction known as the House Freedom Caucus that has caused numerous headaches over government spending for Mr. Ryan — have indicated they could not support the bill because of the spending levels it proposes and the fact that it does not postpone the funding debate until next year, when the next Congress opens its session. The measure now goes to the House, where Speaker Paul D. Ryan expressed confidence that it would be approved, despite opposition from some conservatives who object to additional spending, and from Democrats who are skeptical that Republicans will fully appropriate the money for Flint when lawmakers return after the election.
The earliest the House could vote on a spending agreement is Friday, just hours before the deadline. The deal that unclogged the pipeline came from an unlikely place: the House of Representatives. The agreement hinges on an amendment to a water projects bill, the Water Resources Development Act, which would authorize $170 million in spending to communities such as Flint where the president has declared a state of emergency because of contaminants like lead. A version of that bill, which approved more than $200 million for Flint and other poor communities struggling with lead contamination, passed the Senate this month.
Senate Democrats defeated the latest attempt to move forward on a spending bill Tuesday afternoon, objecting largely to the fact that the legislation included funding for flood-ravaged communities in Louisiana but no money for Flint. The House passed that bill Wednesday evening, setting up a meeting between congressional leaders to resolve the differences between the Senate and House versions of the water projects legislation, discrepancies that include the amount of funding for Flint and whether the funding is set aside or simply authorized.
Before announcing her deal with Mr. Ryan, Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the House Democratic leader, said Tuesday that Democrats wanted an immediate response to the water-contamination crisis in Flint before lawmakers head home to campaign. But that conference meeting is not expected to happen until lawmakers return after the election, which left some Democrats uneasy. The 45-member Congressional Black Caucus recently vowed to oppose any stopgap spending bill that did not include funding for Flint.
“We have to get Flint done, the sooner, the better,” Ms. Pelosi said, adding later, in reference to the time after the election, “What’s the guarantee in the lame duck?” The group’s chairman, Representative G. K. Butterfield, Democrat of North Carolina, said they were disappointed that Democratic leaders had agreed to a deal that relied primarily on the word of their Republican counterparts.
Senate Republicans said Congress would ensure that money for Flint was part of the water projects bill, with leaders promising to include it when they meet with House leaders to resolve the differences between the Senate and House versions of that bill. That conference meeting is not expected to happen until lawmakers return after the election. “The question is, are we willing to accept the promise of the Republican leadership that it will come out in conference?” he said in an interview Wednesday.
But he said there was growing confidence among Democrats that Republicans would keep their word to ensure that Flint aid was appropriated as part of continuing discussions. Mr. Butterfield said he believed most of the caucus would ultimately support the bill.
“We can’t shut down the government, that’s for sure,” he said.
The House Freedom Caucus, a conservative faction with some 40 members, is expected to present their own objections to the deal, including what they see as high levels of government spending.
But some members have also criticized that the spending deal will expire during the lame-duck session, when some members will simply be biding their time until the new Congress is sworn in — or that final flight home.
In a release from the Office of Management and Budget, the Obama administration expressed support for the Zika funding and the movement toward funding for Flint and other communities, urging lawmakers to take immediate action upon returning from the election to provide that aid.
It also noted its disappointment on a couple of provisions, including one that would block the Securities and Exchange Commission from working to implement a rule that would require public companies to disclose their political spending.