Mass. House Proposed Spending $3.6 Billion In Federal ARPA Funds. What Happens Next?

Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker is not a happy camper with the post-pandemic plan that the House lawmakers released on Monday, using $3.6 billion of American Rescue Plan Act funds (ARPA) to buoy the state. The problem, GBH State House reporter Mike Deehan told GBH’s Morning Edition Tuesday, is just that: it’s the House plan, not the House and Senate plan, which means politics will delay its path to Baker’s desk. Henry Santoro spoke with Deehan to understand the House’s plan and what happens next. What follows is a lightly edited transcript.

Henry Santoro: This spending bill is all because of the unprecedented amount of money that the federal government gave to the state during the pandemic, and as we've been reporting, much of it will go towards housing, construction and affordability, hospitals, aid to businesses and workers who were on the front lines during the pandemic. But beyond the price tags, what are some of the other important pieces to this bill?

Mike Deehan: Yeah. Well, I think, you know, first off, is really to note how Baker reacted to that House plan. That's kind of the story here, about how this is going to go politically. Baker said yesterday the House plan, it has a lot of the same ideas as what he was asking for. He said it was thematically similar — that means there's a lot of the same buckets, but maybe not the same amount of money in each bucket as Baker had wanted. So, it's not everything Baker has asked for over and over again. He's really been on the stump the last several months asking for spending at high levels. He wanted more for housing, he wanted more for environmental and climate mitigation, things like that.

Santoro: What's Baker's biggest concern with the plans from the House?

Deehan: It's just that — it's the House's plan, and it's not the House and Senate plan. So this really is a political problem for Baker. If the House and Senate don't see eye to eye, there could be problems.

So the two chambers say that they're in agreement about money to replenish unemployment insurance funds — that's something that businesses will have to pay for — but that's only $500 million, that's half of what Baker was asking for. And they're in agreement about paying about another $500 million for those workers who were on the front lines.

But when the House and Senate don't agree, things can get bogged down. And here's what Baker said about that yesterday:

Gov. Charlie Baker: The clock is going to be ticking between now and the end of the formal session, and I expect and anticipate and hope that the branches will be able to see their way through to a bill that they can both agree on.

Deehan: So Baker, like we said, wasn't thrilled with the amount that Democrats had in that unemployment trust. It's only half of what he asked for.

Santoro: But until the House and Senate come up with their plan — one that they both agree on — Baker just basically sits at his hands.

Deehan: And even after that, because the Legislature will likely pass this with enough Democratic votes to override anything Republican Baker really has to do with it. So, you know, that's really where we're at right now. Going forward, we have to see what the Senate does. If they're on the mark — in similar to the House — this could be a smooth process. If the Senate wants to spend more, spend less, spend differently, they're going to have to negotiate some more.

Santoro: Also, not a lot for climate change mitigation and environmental infrastructure, as Baker has been asking for. Did the House leaders say why they only included around a third of what Baker was asking for?

Deehan: Yeah, it's kind of weird — you wouldn't think that the Democrats would actually offer less spending than the Republican when it comes to climate change and things like that, but that's because they're waiting for the federal government.

Speaker Ron Mariano said yesterday that, if the feds do pass a big infrastructure — a multitrillion-dollar bill — if President Biden, Senator Joe Manchin, they kind of make a deal that we're hearing about, then there could be more of an influx of money into Massachusetts for that kind of stuff. So they're kind of going to wait for the feds throughout the year to see if Massachusetts needs to do it on their own or not.

Santoro: Any surprises in the House plan that we should know about?

Deehan: There are a few. There's definitely going to be more healthcare spending and policy associated with the spending plan. We're going to see Mariano trying to boost hospitals, that's something that he's always been passionate about. And in turn, there's going to be a lot of mental health spending and plans are on that. That's something Senate President [Karen] Spilka, [it’s] always been a top priority of hers.

There's also $12 million in the bill to help resettle Afghan refugees here in Massachusetts. That's kind of small compared to the billions we're talking about otherwise. But you know, it's notable. So, we're seeing the politics negotiations happen. There's a lot in this bill.

Santoro: When does the Senate take over?

Deehan: We're not sure just yet. The House is going to take it up later this week, then the Senate will get their shot. It could be a week, two weeks, before we know what the Senate wants to do with it. And then, like the governor said, the clock's going to be ticking before Thanksgiving, which is when Democratic leaders said they would get the bill to his desk.

Santoro: GBH State House reporter, Mike Deehan, who knows more about politics than many politicians do. Mike, thanks so much.

Deehan: Thank you, Henry.