COVID-19 Stimulus Update

The negotiations on the next COVID 19 stimulus package are not expected to resume the week of August 10th. The Administration believes they have the upper hand right now with the Executive Orders while the Democrats are standing behind the Heroes Act which was passed in May. Plus, Mark Meadow, COS for President Trump, is on vacation.

One bill which has been put on the back burner is the Senate Appropriations bill, which includes $1.6 billion to address the USCIS shortfall. Several Senate Republicans have come out against the package because it includes extraneous funding for a new FBI building and a renovation of the West Wing in the White House. The House did not include funding for this shortfall in the Heroes Act so there will need to be further discussion between the House and the Senate on this matter which will take more time.

One reason why the COVID 19 appropriations supplemental package has taken a back seat is it can be addressed via a couple of legislative vehicles. It can be accomplished either through the House and Senate negotiated COVID 19 appropriations supplemental package or through the Fiscal Year 2021 continuing resolution which is needed to keep the Federal government operational starting on October 1st. Both the House and Senate appropriators have signaled that they need to provide this funding sooner rather than later. The Department of Homeland Security can not afford to have already appropriated funding taken from its critical national security mission programmatic accounts to make up for these shortfalls in the fee collection accounts.

While there are a lot of options for Congress to deal with the budgetary shortfalls in DHS, Congress needs to get agreement on how it will address this matter prior to the end of the fiscal year. WHSR will continue to provide you updates on this very important matter.