Ukraine Aid Package Boosted to $14 Billion | The Fiscal Times – The Fiscal Times

Good Tuesday evening and Happy International WomensDay! Lets jump right in, much as we might want to take a briefdetour to discuss the NFL's big Russell Wilson trade:

Government funding expires at the end of the day on Friday. Withthe deadline rapidly approaching, congressional negotiators andstaff reportedly spent Monday night and Tuesday trying to finalizea sweeping $1.5 trillion spending package covering the rest of thisfiscal year along with an emergency aid package for Ukraine andadditional pandemic funding.

The Ukraine aid package has grown to a reported $13.6 billion,up from an initial White House request for $6.4 billion and a laterrequest for $10 billion. "The money is expected to boost keyprograms at the Pentagon, State Department and other agencies, sothat they can better deliver military assistance, help defendagainst cyberattacks, respond to food insecurity in the region andshore up other NATO allies in the face of any further Russianaggression," The Washington Posts Tony Romm reports.

The Covid-19 funding, meanwhile, has been scaled back to $15billion, about half what the Biden administration initially saidwould be needed and a third less than the $22.5 billion theadministration later requested. The funding has shrunk asRepublicans questioned the need for additional pandemic spendingand demanded better accounting for the trillions of dollars alreadyapproved for public health and other coronavirus relief efforts.The additional funding reportedly may be repurposed from pandemicrelief funds approved for cities and states as Republicans haveinsisted that any new spending be fully offset.

Congressional leaders reportedly still hope to unveil thelegislative text of the spending package on Tuesday, givinglawmakers hours to review the massive package ahead of a plannedWednesday vote in the House. "Were almost done. Were going tovote tomorrow," House Appropriation Chair Rosa DeLauro toldreporters said. "Its not going to get delayed. Were going to votetomorrow."

Lawmakers also look to punish Russia: The race to passthe massive spending package comes as the House is also set to voteon a related bipartisan bill to further crack down on Russia afterits invasion of Ukraine. That legislation would ban the import ofRussian energy, enable the Biden administration to imposeadditional sanctions and tariffs on Russia and seek to expel Moscowfrom the World Trade Organization.

In a letter to colleagues, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)said the legislation would further isolate and weaken Russia whilealso representing a show of support for President Bidens effortsto hold Russian President Vladimir Putin accountable for "hispremeditated, unprovoked war against Ukraine."

Republican lawmakers also expressed support for the bill, whichwould also have to pass the Senate. "I think theres more at stakethan just the cost of gasoline," said Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX),according to The Washington Post. "I think its an importantmessage to send, so despite the presidents actions, I would liketo see Congress pass a law."

Whats next: Time to pass the omnibus is running shortgiven that House Democrats are schedules to leave town Wednesdayafternoon for their annual policy retreat in Philadelphia."Hopefully the House sends it to us tomorrow," Senate MajorityLeader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said Tuesday. "We can then move it andcertainly pass it before the midnight Friday deadline."

House lawmakers sounded confident Tuesday that theyd be able toget it done, though House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD)reportedly warned his members Tuesday that they may need to comeback on Friday if the Senate were to make changes to the package orrun into delays that required a stopgap bill to prevent agovernment shutdown. Senate Republicans have threatened to blockspeedy consideration of the omnibus, demanding votes on a proposalto defund the Biden vaccine mandates and a more detailed fiscalanalysis of the spending package.

The bottom line: Lawmakers broadly expect to meet theirdeadline. Democratic leaders signaled that more funding wouldlikely still be needed for both Ukraine and the pandemic

"This is a step that were taking to inflict further pain onPutin. But there will be costs as well here in the United States. Isaid I would level with the American people from the beginning. Andwhen I first spoke to this, I said defending freedom is going tocost -- its going to cost us as well, in the United States.Republicans and Democrats alike understand that. Republicans andDemocrats alike have been clear that we must do this."

President Biden, announcing an executive order toban the importing of Russian oil, liquefied natural gas andcoal.

Biden had been hesitant to block energy imports from Russia,mindful of the economic reverberations the move could have and,perhaps, the political pain that could accompany record gas prices but made the decision to do so after facing bipartisan pressurefrom lawmakers and consulting with U.S. allies. Biden said thatsome European allies, which are more dependent on Russian energy,may not follow suit. The European Union said it planned to cutimports of Russian natural gas by two-thirds.

Biden blamed Russian President Vladimir Putin for rising U.S.gas prices. "Im going to do everything I can to minimize Putinsprice hike here at home," he said.

A new Wall Street Journal poll found that 79% ofAmericans said they favor a ban on Russian oil imports even if itmeans higher energy prices.

The federal budget deficit totaled $475 billion in the firstfive months of the 2022 fiscal year, the Congressional BudgetOffice said Tuesday in its monthlybudget review.

Total receipts between the beginning of the fiscal year inOctober 2021 and February 2022 came to $1.8 trillion, CBOestimated, while total outlays came to nearly $2.3 trillion.

Receipts are up by $371 billion this year compared to the sameperiod last year, driven in large part by higher individual incomeand payroll taxes, which rose by $313 billion. Corporate taxreceipts were also higher, by $28 billion, as were customs dutiesand excise taxes. Total outlays are down by $201 billion on ayear-over-year basis, driven in part by a $139 billion decrease inunemployment compensation.

Spending on servicing the debt increased by $31 billion, or 22%,as the Treasury paid more in interest on inflation-protectedsecurities.

Overall, the deficit so far this year is considerably smallerthan the one recorded in the pandemic-scarred years of 2020 and2021. Last year, the deficit was a bit over $1 trillion in thefirst five months of the fiscal year, or about twice as large,while in 2020 the deficit came to $624 billion by this point.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) on Tuesday highlighted a newanalysis that shows that a proposal by Republican Sen. Rick Scottof Florida to have all Americans pay at least some federal incometax would end up raising taxes on more than half of allhouseholds.

"In every state across the country the hardest working familieswould shoulder huge tax increases but more than 40 percent oftaxpayers living and working in Mississippi, West Virginia,Arkansas, Louisiana, Alabama, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Georgia, NewMexico, South Carolina and Florida would see their tax billsskyrocket," Pelosi said in a statement.

The analysis of Scotts proposal was done by the liberal-leaningInstitute on Taxation and Economic Policy, which looked at theeffects of the plan on taxpayers in each state. Crucially, the analysis assumes that, under Scotts plan,low-income taxpayers would lose the refundable tax credits providedby programs such as the Earned Income Tax Credit or the Child TaxCredit, up to the point where they have some tax liability. Thisisnt spelled out in Scotts plan, which provides virtually nodetails, but ITEPs Steve Wamhoff says it follows from theproposal. "The only possible interpretation of Sen. Scottsproposal is that everyone who has negative federal income taxliability under current law would instead have federal income taxliability of at least $1," he writes.

Under that assumption, ITEP found that individual tax billswould rise by more than $1,000 on average for the poorest 40% ofAmericans, once the value of lost tax credits is taken intoaccount.

Scott has said that his proposal would not apply to seniors orthose who are not "able bodied," but those clarifications left itunclear how the plan would have all Americans have some "skin inthe game," as the senators plan put it.

Pelosi said the think tanks analysis shows the sharp contrastbetween the parties on fiscal policy: "While Republicans plan tosqueeze Americas hardest-working families with higher tax hikesand try to rip away their health care, Democrats are still hard atwork to pass legislation to further lower everyday prices, fightinflation and cut taxes for middle-class families, paid for byfinally making giant corporations and the wealthiest pay their fairshare."

For their part, Republicans have distanced themselves fromScotts proposal. Although the Florida Republican defended his planin a Wall Street Journal op-ed last week, Senate Minority Leader MitchMcConnell (R-KY) bashed the proposal, saying that while he does notplan to release a GOP agenda, under no conditions would Republicanssupport a tax hike.

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-FL) said Monday that while he agrees with"most of" Scotts proposed agenda, he recognized that some thingswould have to change presumably including the idea of raisingtaxes on millions of low-income households. At the same time,Johnson said Republicans need to make it clear what they plan to doif they win power in the coming elections. Johnsons idea is a bitof a throwback to the glory years of the Trump presidency: "Forexample, if were going to repeal and replace Obamacare I stillthink we need to fix our health-care system we need to have theplan ahead of time so that once we get in office, we can implementit immediately, not knock around like we did last time and fail,"Johnson said.

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Ukraine Aid Package Boosted to $14 Billion | The Fiscal Times - The Fiscal Times