Democrats Drop New Covid Relief from Spending Bill

“Democratic leaders abruptly abandoned efforts to win approval of $15.6 billion in emergency pandemic response aid to fund the Biden administration’s new coronavirus strategy, announcing they would drop the package from a sprawling, $1.5 trillion spending bill amid disputes about how to cover the cost,” the New York Times reports.

“With Republicans refusing to devote any new money toward federal efforts to address the continuing toll of the crisis, top Democrats had agreed to take the funding from existing programs…”

“But as rank-and-file lawmakers began to comb through the package Wednesday morning, only hours before it was slated for a vote, some Democrats objected to that proposal, particularly the idea of clawing back assistance that states have been counting on.”