As Millions Face Eviction, Just 6.5% of Emergency Aid Has Been Distributed

By Yuval Rosenberg

Still Hoping for a Bipartisan Deal, Democrats
Consider a $4.1 Trillion Plan B Just in Case

Although President Biden’s push for a bipartisan infrastructure
agreement took a hit this week as Republicans blocked a procedural
vote to advance the effort, White House and Senate negotiators say
they are making progress as talks continue and are optimistic that
a deal is just around the corner. Several senators said Thursday
that they expect to have an agreement early next week.

“I think it’ll be there on Monday,” Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT)

told Bloomberg News, referring to the bill’s text
and budget score. “If not, not. So it’ll be a day or two after --
but I think it’ll be on Monday.”

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) said the bill is very near complete,
including the contentious issue of revenues. “We had an agreement
on 99% when we walked out yesterday afternoon,” he told Bloomberg.
“The pay-fors are pretty much lined up.”

Given the steady progress, Biden’s long-running obsession with
forging a bipartisan deal on infrastructure “suddenly looks quite
doable,”
Politico said.

But failure is still an option: Although negotiators say
they’re close to an agreement, there are still some important
details that need to be nailed down.

Sens. Tom Carper (D-DE) and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) said Thursday
that they would not support the infrastructure plan unless it
includes more funding for water and sanitation. “While I voted to
proceed to consideration of a bipartisan infrastructure bill, more
will need to be done in order for me to support the current
proposal that is being drafted,” Duckworth said. “I can’t commit to
supporting a final bill if it does not include full funding for my
Drinking Water and Wastewater Infrastructure Act (DWWIA) at $35.9
billion over the next five years.”

Other Democrats, including Sens. Chris Murphy and Richard
Blumenthal of Connecticut, said they were looking for more money
for high-speed rail.

On the revenue side, negotiators have reportedly agreed to delay
a Trump-era rule that eliminates drug rebates for benefits managers
in Medicare Part D, for a projected saving of about $177 billion
over 10 years. However, details won’t be released until next week,
and drug industry lobbyists are already lining up to oppose the
move.

A giant Plan B: Even as negotiations on the bipartisan
plan continue, with relatively high expectations they will succeed,
some Democratic lawmakers are making plans for how to proceed if
things fall apart.

One option would be to add the nearly $600 billion in new
spending from the bipartisan bill to the $3.5 trillion outlined in
Democrat’s budget blueprint, creating a $4.1 trillion package that
includes all of President Biden’s “hard” and “soft” infrastructure
priorities.

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA), who sits on the Budget Committee,

told Politico that he was looking into that
possibility: “If for some reason the bipartisan version doesn’t
work out, then we ought to be looking at a reconciliation bill
that’s at $4.1 trillion,” he said.

Kaine said the larger number makes sense, since it’s clear
that’s how much Democrats plan to spend overall. “The
reconciliation instruction is ‘spend up to this number,’” Kaine

told Axios. “We do look at the two bills as a
combined investment, totaling about $4.1 trillion.”

Sen. Bernie Sanders said he agreed with that approach. “At the
end of the day ... the $600 billion in physical infrastructure, you
can do it in the bipartisan bill, or you can combine it with one
bill,” he told Politico. “One way or another, it’s going to
happen.”

But the massive spending total could give some moderate
Democrats second thoughts, especially in the House.

“Heck, no,” Rep. Kurt Schrader (D-OR) told Politico when asked
about the possibility of a larger package. “We can’t afford to keep
spending money we don’t have.”

Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), an influential moderate, said he
would want to look at the details, but also said the $4.1 trillion
figure is “aggressive.”

Still, should the bipartisan deal fall through, some Democrats
will push for the combined package, arguing that it all boils down
to the same thing. “I don’t know why they’d change their mind on
infrastructure spending depending on the vehicle through which it’s
accomplished,” Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) told Politico. “That
wouldn’t be a very logical position in my view.”

Lobbyists Swarm DC as Democrats Plot New
Spending and Taxes

Democrats’ push for trillions of dollars in new spending – and
the taxes to help pay for it – is proving to be good news for the
lobbying industry in the nation’s capital. According to
Roll Call Thursday, some K Street lobbying firms
have reported record revenues in the first six months of 2021, as
clients scramble to influence the scope of the emerging
legislation.

Companies want to know how the still-developing infrastructure
and social welfare plans could affect them and are looking for ways
to sway lawmakers as they write new rules and create new programs.
Firms are also looking for ways to protect themselves from changes
in the tax code.

The visible hand: Karishma Page of the firm K&L
Gates, which earned a record $10 million in the first half of the
year, described the current lobbying environment: “Responding to a
once in a century crisis, the Biden Administration and
Congressional Democrats continue to embark on one of the most
ambitious policy agendas in recent history. The impact will be
far-reaching across the economy and society, possibly for decades
to come. Fates are being written.”

The revival of earmarks has also played a role in the lobbying
surge, Roll Call’s Kate Ackley says. Some organizations, including
hospitals and local governments, are getting back into the lobbying
game after years of non-participation, drawn by the possibility of
winning funding for specific projects through earmarks – or
“member-designated projects,” as they are now called.

“I think a lot of people took a wait-and-see approach and didn’t
know quite how real it was, but I think the process playing out
like it is — community projects are here to stay, and it’s a real
opportunity, and it’s a bipartisan opportunity,” one lobbyist
said.

Clients increase spending: Some of the biggest spenders
in Washington – a group that includes the Pharmaceutical Research
and Manufacturers of America, Amazon and Raytheon – have reported
spending more on lobbying efforts this year, although two major
groups – the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association
of Realtors – say they spent less, probably due to declines in
election-related efforts.

Here’s a look at the 10 biggest spenders seeking to influence
Congress in 2021:

With Eviction Moratorium Ending in Days,
Just 6.5% of Rental Aid Has Reached Tenants,
Landlords

A federal eviction moratorium is set to expire at the end
of this month, but with just days to go until the ban ends, states
and localities have disbursed just about $3 billion, or about 6.5%
of the nearly $47 billion in emergency rent assistance provided by
the federal government since December.

Bloomberg’s Mackenzie Hawkins and Noah Buhayar
report:

“The first round of federal funds, totaling $25 billion,
was fully distributed to states and local jurisdictions by early
February. By the end of May, the federal government had distributed
another $8.6 billion from a $21.5 billion second round enacted in
March.
“But only 12% of the first tranche of funding had made
its way to renters by late June, according to U.S. Treasury
Department data released on Wednesday. A handful of states like
Texas and Virginia that quickly built infrastructure to dole out
the money accounted for an outsize share of the funds that had been
disbursed.”

More than 80 jurisdictions hadn’t started their
distribution programs by the end of May, Hawkins and Buhayar say,
even as localities stand to lost at least some of the funding if
they don’t distribute it before October.

Picking up the pace: The Treasury
Department said
Wednesday that more than $1.5 billion in rental aid was delivered
in June, more than all previous months combined. The aid went to
290,000 households, up from 160,000 in May and about 100,000 in
April. But housing advocates warn that jurisdictions are still not
acting quickly enough to prevent a potential crisis for renters and
landlords.

Read more at
Bloomberg News,
Politico or
CBS News.

Biden Admin Announces New Funding to Boost
Covid Vaccination and Testing

The Biden administration said Thursday that it would put $1.6
billion in funding from the American Rescue Plan passed in March
toward boosting testing and mitigation efforts across a number of
vulnerable communities, from homeless people to those with mental
health and substance use disorders.

“As COVID-19 cases rise among unvaccinated people and where the
more transmissible Delta virus variant is surging, this funding
will expand activities to detect, diagnose, trace, and monitor
infections and mitigate the spread of COVID-19 in homeless
shelters, treatment and recovery facilities, domestic violence
shelters and federal, state and local correctional facilities– some
of the hardest hit and highest risk communities across the
country,” the Department of Health and Human Services said.

The White House also said it would send about $100 million in
funding to rural health clinics to promote vaccination outreach
efforts. "This funding will give trusted messengers in rural
communities the tools they need to counsel patients on how COVID-19
vaccines can help protect them and their loved ones," HHS Secretary
Xavier Becerra said.

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