(Bloomberg) -- A broad swath of Democrats, including some loyal allies to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, threw into question the fate of a $1.5 trillion annual spending bill -- which also includes $13.6 billion to respond to Russia's invasion of Ukraine -- as they revolted against surprise cuts in state and local aid.
Any changes made to resolve the dispute could cause the fragile coalition of support for the long-delayed bill to collapse. A vote on the legislation, which would fund government operations through the rest of the year, had been scheduled for Wednesday.
About $7 billion in state and local funds is being clawed back from a previous aid bill to offset additional money for the government's pandemic response, a key demand of Republicans.
The chaos surrounding the bill is the latest example of intra-party squabbling among Democrats who spent much of the last year battling each other over the size and scope of President Joe Biden's agenda. It also illustrated again how slim a majority Pelosi has to work with to accomplish even basic tasks. Government funding has been on autopilot since Oct 1 due to a failure to pass spending bills.
Democrats can only lose five votes to clear a procedural rule vote on the bill that Republicans are certain to oppose. Meanwhile, GOP votes are crucial for passage of the defense portion of the larger package because some progressive Democrats oppose the $743.4 billion for the Pentagon, which is $28.4 billion above the White House requested.
The bill provides funding for the rest of the fiscal year. Current government funding expires on Friday, although lawmakers have drafted another stopgap spending measure to keep the government open through March 15.
The text of the 2,741-page bill was released at about 1:30 a.m. on Wednesday.
More Coverage: More Covid Money Urged to Make Up for Funding Bill's Shortfall
Representative Angie Craig, a Minnesota Democrat, said leadership is considering pulling the Covid-19 supplemental from the massive spending bill or redistributing the burden of cutbacks to all 50 states instead of the 30 now affected.
“This was a deal cut in the dead of night and dumped on us this morning. That is completely unacceptable,” Craig, using a line also being promoted by Republicans on Wednesday, said after a meeting in Pelosi's office.
Minnesota, she said, will lose $253 million that it already budgeted.
“It's a big bill, and we're finding out things that are in the bill right now that are challenging,” Washington Representative Pramila Jayapal, head of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said, referring to the state and local aid funds being used to offset the emergency pandemic money.
“I am looking out for my state” Representative Debbie Dingell, a Michigan Democrat, said.
The objectors represent a wide swath of Democrats. Representatives of the states affected were working together to find a way forward. Some of the states already had plans for the aid being taken back, which was part of pandemic-related stimulus bill passed last year.
“We are going to vote,” House Appropriations Chair Rosa DeLauro, one of the chief negotiators on the legislation said. “We will sort it out to get where we need to go.”
House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy said it's up to Democrats to move the bill forward.
“It looks like it could be a long day around here,” he said.
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