With Congress returning to Washington from its August recess, talks about passing a measure to fund the government and avert a partial shutdown are at the top of the agenda.
Negotiations about passing a short-term measure to fund the government – better known as a continuing resolution, or CR – includes discussions about whether Congress will approve the Biden administration's $47 billion request for fudning to combat COVID-19 and monkeypox, provide aid to Ukraine and respond to previous and future natural disasters.
The administration's $22.4 billion funding request to "ensure the nation continues to effectively manage COVID-19" includes providing testing, research of vaccines and therapeutics, and to supporting a global response to COVID-19.
The White House is also seeking $4.5 billion to mitigate the monkeypox outbreak, including for vaccines, medication, testing, and research and development of vaccines and rapid tests.
"We’re working right now with Congress on the supplemental as part of the CR to identify additional funding needed, both in vaccine supply to not only replenish what has been used out of the stockpile, which is critical if there was another event, for the security of the nation; but also to provide additional vaccine and have it more available if needed during this event," Bob Fenton, White House’s Monkeypox Response Coordinator, said at a press briefing on Wednesday.
The funding request also includes an additional $13.7 billion in Ukraine aid and $6.5 billion to help states, tribes and territories recover from extreme weather events and natural disasters, including helping Americans affected by future events.
President Joe Biden’s funding request was met with opposition by Republicans, who want the administration to tap into unspent funds from previous COVID-19 relief bills.
"What Congress should really be doing is looking and saying how can we reappropriate the money that's been misspent and misallocated by this administration," Rep. Bryan Steil, a Wisconsin Republican, told Spectrum News. "Rather than simply looking for new money to spend, we have to address our priorities, we have to identify our priorities. And what we've seen time and again over the last two years is a lot of money on a lot of new programs that are not the priorities of the American people."
Democrats argue the funding will help the administration get ahead of the diseases and end the pain caused by them.
“Republican opposition to the health and welfare of Americans is astounding,” Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Wis., a senior member of the House Appropriations Committee, told Spectrum News. “Testing, treatment, and prevention save lives."
"COVID-19 and monkeypox are treatable and preventable, especially with a vaccine supply that meets the demand," Pocan added. "Congress must step up and provide the funding necessary to stem these diseases. Any GOP opposition will cause needless suffering and death as we head into the fall and winter months.”
Experts say the reporting of unspent COVID funds is as fair as it gets, but does point to areas needing improvement.
"I mean, we've eventually gotten to a fairly transparent point on our COVID spending, as well as a lot of other federal spending," Sean Moulton, Senior Policy Analyst at the Project On Government Oversight, told Spectrum News. "There's a variety of laws that require a certain level of transparency."
"For some of the COVID [spending], we're still seeing information withheld," Moulton continued. "There are programs where the recipients' names are withheld, sometimes legitimately, when it's assistance to a household or something, and they don't want to violate someone's privacy."
"In general, we're able to see a lot of where this money went," Moulton said. "And there's been a lot of money spent, trillions of dollars over several years, two administrations now. And we have been getting better information as time goes on."
He also said a lot of COVID money goes to intermediaries "like state capitals and state agencies."
"We don't really see where and how it reaches because a lot of that sub-award information is very badly collected," he added.
According to a tracker from the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a non-profit devoted to fiscal and budgetary issues, most COVID relief "has already been spent," though several policies that are ongoing could be renewed by Congress or President Biden.
"In particular, the federal government continues to offer increased payments to Medicare providers, forbearance for student loan borrowers, and an enhanced Medicaid matching rate (a form of aid to states)," they wrote. "Though some spending to specifically address the pandemic may still be warranted, policymakers should wind down these COVID relief policies rather than continuing to extend them.
When asked what the government can do to be completely transparent about the monies out there, Moulton said that, "we need better information on the sub-awards, we need to follow this money until it reaches the communities that it is intended to help."
He also says the government has seen a lot of Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) fraud "so following that money, all the way down is going to be important."
"The other thing I think is Congress needs to be a little bit clearer about requiring some reporting back from these agencies about unspent funds so that we can have, you know, a nice updated list of where the money is, is still sitting, and whether or not they then want to go in and quickly reappropriate," Moulton added.
With Republicans largely opposed to President Biden's request for additional funding for COVID, there could be an uphill battle to pass bills in time to avert a partial government shutdown.
Steil says he's frustrated as federal funding runs out at the end of September "without bills before Congress to keep it funded," adding: "It looks like Congress is going to kick the can down the road again."
"That's not productive. It's better than shutting the government down, but it's not productive, and my frustration continues to mount with the way that Washington is operating," he added.
Another possible roadblock may come by way of permitting reform — which will accelerate approvals for certain energy infrastructure products — which West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin has asked to be part of the CR. Such an addition was a condition of his support for the Inflation Reduction Act, an accord he brokered with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders said this week that he would oppose any CR that included permitting reform, calling it a "disastrous side deal" that he believes would allow for oil companies to "pollute the environment and destroy our planet."
"If the United States Congress goes on record and says, 'Yes we are going to support more fossil fuel reduction, more carbon emissions,' the signal we are sending to our own people and the planet is a terrible, terrible signal," Sanders said on the Senate floor this week. "At a time when climate change is threatening the very existence of our planet, why would anybody be talking about substantially increasing carbon emissions and expanding fossil fuel production in the United States?"
On Friday, a group of more than 70 House Democrats sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., urging them to keep permitting reform out of the CR, putting leadership in a precarious position.
"We remain deeply concerned that these serious and detrimental permitting provisions will significantly and disproportionately impact low-income communities, indigenous communities, and communities of color," the letter reads. "The inclusion of these provisions in a continuing resolution, or any other must-pass legislation, would silence the voices of frontline and environmental justice communities by insulating them from scrutiny."
"Such a move would force Members to choose between protecting EJ communities from further pollution or funding the government," the lawmakers continued. "We urge you to ensure that these provisions are kept out of a continuing resolution or any other must-pass legislation this year."
Spectrum News' Ryan Chatelain and Justin Tasolides contributed to this report.