A Times investigation found that the stockpile, an emergency medical reserve intended to guard against infectious disease and bioterrorism threats, was woefully unprepared for the pandemic, in part because a substantial chunk of its budget — nearly half, in some years — was devoted to a single product: the anthrax vaccine.
In anticipation of another year of high migrant traffic at the southwestern border, lawmakers designated an additional $1.45 billion for Customs and Border Protection, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Federal Emergency Management Agency to help with personnel overtime costs, medical care for migrants and funding for nonprofit groups that shelter migrants once they are released from border custody.
The measure also would give the Internal Revenue Service a $675 million increase, its largest in more than two decades.
Passage of the legislation would also unlock some funding first outlined in last year’s $1 trillion infrastructure law, a key priority for lawmakers in both parties. The bill also includes significant increases in funding for climate resilience, an area that already received $50 billion in new money in the infrastructure package.
As it doled out funds across the federal government, Congress also increased spending on itself. The bill would raise office budgets for House lawmakers by 21 percent, the largest increase since 1996, to give traditionally underpaid congressional staff a pay raise. And after the Jan. 6 riot, the bill would provide $602.5 million for the U.S. Capitol Police, an increase of $87 million, to help hire more officers.
It also directs officials to place a plaque on the west side of the building to recognize the law enforcement officers and agencies who responded to the riot.
The bill also would close a loophole that allowed makers of flavored e-cigarettes to sidestep the Food and Drug Administration’s authority to regulate products derived from tobacco. Makers of vapes in flavors like gummy bear and watermelon abandoned plant-based nicotine in favor of what they advertise as a lab-made, synthetic formulation to evade oversight.