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Tag: Patty Murray

  • Key senators reach agreement on spending levels for next year, setting up clash with House

    Key senators reach agreement on spending levels for next year, setting up clash with House

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    WASHINGTON – The Senate will pursue a spending increase next year of about 3.4% for defense and 2.7% increase for non-defense programs under an agreement reached by top Democratic and Republican lawmakers on the Senate Appropriations Committee, setting up a certain clash with the House, which is pursuing less spending in both categories.

    Under an agreement reached last year by President Joe Biden and then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy, spending was set to increase 1% for defense and non-defense programs in fiscal year 2025, bringing the tallies to about $780.4 billion for non-defense and $895.2 billion for defense.

    Some senators said the increase would not keep up with inflation and would be tantamount to a cut for many programs.

    The bipartisan Senate agreement unveiled this week will provide $13.5 billion more in emergency funding for non-defense programs and $21 billion more for defense programs than the Biden-McCarthy agreement provided.

    Meanwhile, House Republicans are pursuing a more austere course, allowing for a 1% increase for defense, but significant cuts for non-defense, coming to a roughly 6% cut on average, though some programs would be cut much more and some GOP priorities not at all.

    While some Republican senators were clamoring for more defense spending, Democrats insisted on similar treatment for non-defense programs.

    “I have made clear that we cannot fail to address the insufficient funding levels facing us and that I absolutely will not leave pressing nondefense needs behind,” said Sen. Patty Murray, the Democratic chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee.

    Murray has been negotiating with Sen. Susan Collins, the ranking Republican on the committee, on discretionary spending for next year. Such spending does not include mandatory spending on major entitlement programs, namely Social Security and Medicare, which represent about two-thirds of annual federal spending and does not require an annual vote by Congress.

    Collins said the U.S. is facing one of the most perilous security environments in the last 50 years and that threats from Iran, Russia and China “must be met with the resolve to invest in a stronger national defense.”

    “Under this agreement, additional funding for our military would be accompanied by efforts to halt the flow of fentanyl at our borders, invest in biomedical research, and maintain affordable housing programs,” Collins said.

    The Republican-led House has been acting more quickly on spending than the Senate. It has passed four of the 12 annual spending bills so far while the Senate has not yet passed any. However, all four House bills have generated veto threats from the White House, drew widespread Democratic opposition and have no chance of passing the Senate in their current form.

    That means a protracted, monthslong battle that will likely require one or more stopgap spending bills to keep the federal government fully open when the new fiscal year begins Oct. 1.

    With the elections and lawmakers spending so much time away from Washington, Congress is not expected to get the final spending bills over the finish line until November at the earliest. Final passage could also be pushed off to next year if one party manages to win the White House and both chambers of Congress, as that would give them more leverage in negotiations.

    Rep. Tom Cole, the Republican chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, said the spending increase senators are seeking for non-defense programs will prove problematic in the House.

    “Look, we have a $1.9 trillion deficit. At least House Republicans are trying to do something about it,” Cole said.

    The agreement that leaders of the Senate Appropriations Committee reached on spending comes as the committee was set to take up its first three spending measures on Thursday.

    Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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    Kevin Freking, Associated Press

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  • EPA awarding nearly $1 billion to schools for electric buses

    EPA awarding nearly $1 billion to schools for electric buses

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    WASHINGTON — Nearly 400 school districts spanning all 50 states and Washington, D.C., along with several tribes and U.S. territories, are receiving roughly $1 billion in grants to purchase about 2,500 “clean” school buses under a new federal program.

    The Biden administration is making the grants available as part of a wider effort to accelerate the transition to zero-emission vehicles and reduce air pollution near schools and communities.

    Vice President Kamala Harris and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan are set to announce the grant awards Wednesday in Seattle. The new, mostly electric school buses will reduce greenhouse gas emissions, save money and better protect children’s health, the White House said.

    As many as 25 million children ride familiar yellow school buses each school day and will have a “healthier future” with a cleaner fleet, Regan said. “This is just the beginning of our work to … reduce climate pollution and ensure the clean, breathable air that all our children deserve,” he said.

    Only about 1% of the nation’s 480,000 school buses were electric as of last year, but the push to abandon traditional diesel buses has gained momentum in recent years. Money for the new purchases is available under the federal Clean School Bus Program, which includes $5 billion from the bipartisan infrastructure law President Joe Biden signed last year.

    The clean bus program “is accelerating our nation’s transition to electric and low-emission school buses while ensuring a brighter, healthier future for our children,” Regan said in a statement.

    The EPA initially made $500 million available for clean buses in May but increased that to $965 million last month, responding to what officials called overwhelming demand for electric buses across the country. An additional $1 billion is set to be awarded in the budget year that began Oct. 1.

    The EPA said it received about 2,000 applications requesting nearly $4 billion for more than 12,000 buses, mostly electric. A total of 389 applications worth $913 million were accepted to support purchase of 2,463 buses, 95% of which will be electric, the EPA said. The remaining buses will run on compressed natural gas or propane.

    School districts identified as priority areas serving low-income, rural or tribal students make up 99% of the projects that were selected, the White House said. More applications are under review, and the EPA plans to select more winners to reach the full $965 million in coming weeks.

    Districts set to receive money range from Wrangell, Alaska, to Anniston, Alabama; and Teton County, Wyoming, to Wirt County, West Virginia. Besides Washington, major cities that won grants for clean school buses include New York, Dallas, Houston, Atlanta and Seattle.

    Environmental and public health groups hailed the announcement, which comes after years of advocacy to replace diesel-powered buses with cleaner alternatives.

    “It doesn’t make sense to send our kids to school on buses that create brain-harming, lung-harming, cancer-causing, climate-harming pollution,” said Molly Rauch, public health policy director for Moms Clean Air Force, an environmental group. “Our kids, our bus drivers and our communities deserve better.”

    Harris and Regan are expected to announce the awards at an event in Seattle with Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., and Gov. Jay Inslee. Murray is running for reelection against Republican Tiffany Smiley.

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