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Senate passes $1.7T omnibus spending bill Tribune Content Agency WASHINGTON — The Senate overwhelmingly passed the mammoth fiscal 2023 spending package in a burst of activity on the floor Thursday after finally nailing down an amendments deal it took all day Wednesday and into the morning to hammer out. The vote was 68-29 in support of the 4,155-page legislation. It includes the dozen annual spending bills for every federal agency, supplemental aid for the war in Ukraine and natural disaster victims, and a series of unrelated policies ranging from retirement savings incentives to driftnet fishing regulations. “This is one of the most significant appropriations packages we have done in a very long time,” Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., said before final passage. “The range of people it helps is large and deep.” The package includes $858 billion in defense spending, a nearly 10% increase over the previous fiscal year, and
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Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., at the U.S. Capitol Building, Wednesday. $787 billion in nondefense spending, close to an 8% increase. It also would provide roughly $85 billion in supplemental funding for Ukraine and disaster relief. Senate passage paves the way for the House to clear the legislation ahead of government spending running out at midnight Eastern time on Friday. The House planned to take up the measure Friday as early as 9 a.m., Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer, announced hours after the Senate vote. House leaders initially had hoped to clear the bill See Senate, Page A9
Solano projects to get $4.5M from omnibus package Todd R. Hansen
THANSEN@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET
FAIRFIELD — Solano County gets a small taste of the $69 million for Bay Area projects that are listed in the Fiscal Year 2023 Appropriation Package passed Thursday by the U.S. Senate. The House of Representatives must vote for final passage before it goes to President Joe Biden for consideration. Sen. Alex Padilla released a statement that shows of the 42 Bay Area projects, four have direct or indirect benefit to Solano County. Marin Clean Energy will receive $2 million for its electric vehicle charger program in Solano, Marin, Sonoma and Napa counties. MCE also will receive
$500,000 for its energy storage program. Additionally, California State University Maritime Academy in Vallejo will get $1 million for microgrid improvements. “This funding will support installation of a modular comprehensive academic microgrid system on the California State University Maritime Academy campus to serve basic and emergency energy needs by increasing use of renewables. The microgrid will also be used for academic research and for outreach programs targeted at the local community,” the Padilla press release states. Finally, $1 million also will go to Solano County See Projects, Page A9
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Wanda Williams, second from left, recites the oath of office while being sworn in as Solano County supervisor
Williams takes ceremonial oath Set to join Solano Board of Supervisors
Todd R. Hansen
THANSEN@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET
FAIRFIELD — When the clock strikes noon Jan. 2, Wanda Williams will become the first elected Black woman to serve on the Solano County Board of Supervisors – and the board will have its first female majority. “Women power in the house,” Williams said during a ceremonial swearing-in ceremony held Wednesday at the county Events Center. Napa County Superior Court Judge Monique Langhorne, a former Vallejo resident, administered the oath. Williams had just introduced Supervisors Monica Brown and Erin Hannigan.
“I get to work with these dynamic women,” Williams said. Both Brown and Hannigan, in interviews, noted the significance of both a female majority and having a woman of color elected to the board. “The significance for me, really, and I’m not saying men don’t, but women are more (involved) in the family and the home,” said Brown, and pointing to issues such as mental health and medical care. She is hopeful the new alliance, one Williams openly notes is more liberal, will focus greater attention on family issues. Hannigan said Williams’ election further opens the pipeline for other women to be elected to public boards, whether that be a
school board, city council, board of supervisors or the statehouse, where Williams’ former Suisun City council colleague, Lori Wilson, now serves as an assemblywoman. Former Supervisor Duane Kromm, addressing the crowd, noted the Suisun council, the Fairfield council, for the first time, and the Board of Supervisors, also a first, each has a female majority. Hannigan also noted that with Williams, the county board looks more like the whole of the county. “We set policy; we distribute resources; we should be representative of the people we serve,” Hannigan said. Williams also acknowledged See Oath, Page A9
Covid-19 increasing slowly within Solano winter surge Todd R. Hansen
THANSEN@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET
Aaron Rosenblatt/Daily Republic
A pedestrian wearing a face mask waits at a bus stop on North Texas Street in Fairfield, Thursday.
FAIRFIELD — The rate of Covid infections continues to climb, but Solano County health officials described the rate as “slight” in the context of a winter surge. “We are seeing a relatively slow uptick (in cases) even in the midst of a surge,” Dr. Bela Matyas, the county public health officer, said in a phone interview Thursday.
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during a ceremony at the Solano County Events Center in downtown Fairfield, Wednesday.
Moreover, the outcomes tend to be mild, with relatively low hospitalizations and virtually no Covid-related deaths. In fact, since March, there have only been eight deaths, all residents 75 or older, Matyas said. That is the most susceptible age group. All of that, he said, has contributed to a decline in the rate of booster vaccines being administered, just 50 since the last update Dec. 15. That
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takes the total to 184,027. The county also continues to see a reluctance, for a host of reasons, of parents to get their children vaccinated. There have been 2,612 children 6 months to 4 years (11.6%) who have received shots, and 15,232 children 5 to 11 (41%), the county reported. The number of positive tests for the coronavirus since See Covid, Page A9
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