WASHINGTON —

Video above: U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin meet with Israeli counterpart at the Pentagon to discuss military readiness against Iran and shared security interest in the region

President Joe Biden signed the National Defense Authorization Act into law, authorizing $768.2 billion in military spending, including a 2.7% pay raise for service members, for 2022.

The NDAA authorizes a 5% increase in military spending, and is the product of intense negotiations between Democrats and Republicans over issues ranging from reforms of the military justice system to COVID-19 vaccine requirements for soldiers.

“The Act provides vital benefits and enhances access to justice for military personnel and their families, and includes critical authorities to support our country’s national defense,” Biden said Monday in a statement.

The $768.2 billion price tag marks $25 billion more than Biden initially requested from Congress, a prior proposal that was rejected by members of both parties out of concerns it would undermine U.S. efforts to keep pace militarily with China and Russia.

The new bill passed earlier this month with bipartisan support, with Democrats and Republicans touting wins in the final package.

Democrats applauded provisions in the bill overhauling how the military justice system handles sexual assault and other related crimes, effectively taking prosecutorial jurisdiction over such crimes out of the hands of military commanders.

Republicans, meanwhile, touted success in blocking an effort to add women to the draft, as well as the inclusion of a provision that bars dishonorable discharges for service members who refuse the COVID-19 vaccine.

The bill includes $7.1 billion for the Pacific Deterrence Initiative and a statement of congressional support for the defense of Taiwan, measures intended to counteract China’s influence in the region.

It also includes $300 million for the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, a show of support in the face of Russian aggression, as well as $4 billion for the European Defense Initiative.

In his statement, the president also outlined a number of provisions his administration opposes over what he characterized as “constitutional concerns or questions of construction.”

Those plans include provisions that restrict the use of funds to transfer or release individuals detained at the Guantanamo Bay detention center, which the Biden administration is moving to close. Biden’s statement said the provisions "unduly impair” the executive branch’s ability to decide when and where to prosecute detainees and where to send them when they’re released, and could constrain U.S. negotiations with foreign countries over the transfer of detainees in a way that could undermine national security.

The law also has provisions barring goods produced by forced Uyghur labor in China from entering the U.S., and it begins to lay out plans for the new Global War on Terror Memorial, which would be the latest addition to the National Mall.

WASHINGTON —

Democrats brushed aside months-long divisions and approached House passage of their expansive social and environment bill Friday, as President Joe Biden and his party neared a defining win in their drive to use their control of government to funnel its resources toward their domestic priorities.

Final passage, which had been expected Thursday, was delayed as Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., held it up with an hours-long broadside criticizing Biden, Democrats and the bill. Most Democrats abandoned the chamber after midnight with McCarthy still talking, and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., told reporters that leaders planned for passage later Friday.

House approval was still expected on a near party-line vote. That would send the measure to a Senate where cost-cutting demands by moderate Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and that chamber’s strict rules seemed certain to force significant changes. That will prompt fresh disputes between party centrists and moderates that will likely take weeks to resolve.

Even so, House passage would mark a watershed for a measure remarkable for the breadth and depth of the changes it would make in federal policies. Wrapped into one bill were far-reaching changes in taxation, health care, energy, climate change, family services, education and housing. That underscored Democrats’ desire to achieve their goals while controlling the White House and Congress — a dominance that could well end after next year’s midterm elections.

“Too many Americans are just barely getting by in our economy,” Hoyer said. “And we simply can’t go back to the way things were before the pandemic.”

House passage would also give Biden a momentary taste of victory, and probably relief, during perhaps the rockiest period of his presidency. He’s been battered by falling approval numbers in polls, reflecting voters’ concerns over inflation, gridlocked supply chains and the persistent coronavirus pandemic, leaving Democrats worried that their legislative efforts are not breaking through to voters.

Biden this week signed a $1 trillion package of highway and other infrastructure projects, another priority that overcame months of internal Democratic battling. The president has spent recent days promoting that measure around the country.

McCarthy spent over eight hours on his feet, at times shouting or rasping hoarsely. Democrats sporadically booed and groaned as McCarthy glared back, underscoring partisan hostility only deepened by this week’s censure of Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., for threatening tweets aimed at Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.

McCarthy, who hopes to become speaker if Republicans capture the chamber in next year’s elections, recited problems the country has faced under Biden, including inflation, China's rise and large numbers of immigrants crossing the Southwest border. “Yeah, I want to go back,” he said in mocking reference to the “Build Back Better” name Biden uses for the legislation.

House rules do not limit how long party leaders may speak. In 2018, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., minority leader at the time, held the floor for over eight hours demanding action on immigration. McCarthy passed that mark just before 5 a.m. Friday.

The House inched toward a final vote after the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said the package would worsen federal deficits by $160 billion over the coming decade. The agency also recalculated the measure’s 10-year price tag at $1.68 trillion, though that figure wasn’t directly comparable to a $1.85 trillion figure Democrats have been using.

The 2,100-page bill’s initiatives include bolstering child care assistance, creating free preschool, curbing seniors’ prescription drug costs and beefing up efforts to slow climate change. Also included are tax credits to spur clean energy development, bolstered child care assistance and extended tax breaks for millions of families with children, lower-earning workers and people buying private health insurance.

Most of it would be paid for by tax increases on the wealthy, big corporations and companies doing business abroad.

The measure would provide $109 billion to create free preschool for 3- and 4-year-olds. There are large sums for home health care for seniors, new Medicare coverage for hearing and a new requirement for four weeks of paid family leave. The family leave program, however, was expected to be removed in the Senate, where it’s been opposed by Manchin.

There is also language letting the government issue work permits to millions of immigrants that would let them stay in the U.S. temporarily, and $297 billion in savings from letting the government curb prescription drug costs. The fate of both those provisions is uncertain in the Senate, where the chamber’s nonpartisan parliamentarian enforces rules that limit provisions allowed in budget bills.

In one major but expected difference with the White House, CBO estimated that the bill’s added $80 billion to beef up IRS tax enforcement would let it collect $207 billion in new revenue over the coming decade. That meant net savings of $127 billion, well below the White House’s more optimistic $400 billion estimate.

In a scorekeeping quirk, CBO officially estimated that the overall legislation would drive up federal deficits by $367 billion over the coming decade. But agency guidelines require it to ignore IRS savings when measuring a bill’s deficit impact, and it acknowledged that the measure’s true impact would worsen shortfalls by $160 billion when counting added revenue the IRS would collect.

Biden and other Democratic leaders have said the measure would pay for itself, largely through tax increases on the wealthy, big corporations and companies doing business abroad.

Both parties worry about deficits selectively. Republicans passed tax cuts in 2017 that worsened red ink by $1.9 trillion, while Democrats enacted a COVID-19 relief bill this year with that same price tag.

Republicans said the latest legislation would damage the economy, give tax breaks to some wealthy taxpayers and make government bigger and more intrusive. Drawing frequent GOP attacks was a provision boosting the limit on state and local taxes that people can deduct from federal taxes, which disproportionately helps top earners from high-tax coastal states.

After months of talks, Democrats appeared eager to wrap it up and begin selling the package back home. They said they were planning 1,000 events across the country by year’s end to pitch the measure’s benefits to voters.

Facing uniform Republican opposition, Democrats could lose no more than three votes to prevail in the House, but moderates seemed reassured by CBO’s figures. Some said projections about IRS savings are always uncertain, others said the bill need not pay for it roughly half-trillion dollars for encouraging cleaner energy need because global warming is an existential crisis.

Florida Democratic Rep. Stephanie Murphy, a leading centrist, said she would back the measure after the latest numbers showed the legislation “is fiscally disciplined” and “has a lot of positive elements.”

Vice President Kamala Harris’ tie-breaking vote gives Democrats control of the 50-50 Senate. That leaves Democrats with zero votes to spare, giving enormous leverage to Manchin in upcoming bargaining. The altered bill would have to return to the House before going to Biden’s desk.

The nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, which preaches fiscal constraint, estimated that the bill’s overall cost would be nearly $5 trillion if Democrats hadn’t made some of its programs temporary. For example, tax credits for children and low-earning workers are extended for just one year, making their price tags appear lower, even though the party would like those programs to be permanent.

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AP Congressional Correspondent Lisa Mascaro and reporter Farnoush Amiri contributed to this report.

WASHINGTON —

After months of talks with Democratic lawmakers, President Joe Biden outlined Thursday a $1.75 trillion framework to support families and education as well as protect against global warming.

The updated plan includes universal preschool, funding to limit child care costs and a one-year continuation of a child tax credit that was expanded earlier this year and applied to more families. But Democrats are scaling back some investments and shortening the timeframe for funding to whittle down spending. Some proposals were dropped entirely. More negotiations are possible.

The framework fits an approximately $1.75 trillion budget over 10 years, rather than the $3.5 trillion budget plan originally envisioned.

Here's what's in the package, according to the White House:

TAX BREAKS

— An expanded child tax credit would continue for another year. As part of a COVID relief bill, Democrats increased the tax credit to $3,000 per child age 6-17 and $3,600 per child age 5 and under. Households earning up to $150,000 per year get the credit paid out to them on a monthly basis. Budget hawks worry that a one-year extension is a budgetary tool that will lower the cost of the program on paper, but mask its true costs since lawmakers tend to continue programs rather than let them expire.

— Continue for one year the expanded Earned Income Tax Credit that goes to 17 million childless, low-income workers.

EDUCATION

— Universal prekindergarten for all 3- and 4-year-olds and child-care subsidies for poorer and middle-income Americans are part of the package. But the programs are only funded for six years.

— Provide $40 billion for higher education and workforce development. This includes raising the size of Pell Grants and providing funding for historically Black colleges and universities as well as institutions where students are largely Hispanic or serve tribal communities.

HEALTH CARE

— Medicare would be expanded to cover hearing aids, costing an estimated $35 billion over 10 years.

— Expanded tax credits for insurance premiums tied to the Affordable Care Act would be extended through 2025. The White House said it would help 3 million uninsured people gain coverage.

— Provide $150 billion for a Medicaid program that supports home health care, helping to clear a backlog and improving working conditions.

— Provide $90 billion for investments that would include funding maternal health, community violence initiatives, disadvantaged farmers, nutrition and pandemic preparation.

CHILD CARE

— Biden’s plan calls for parents earning up to 250% of a state’s median income to pay no more than 7% of their income on child care. Parents must be working, seeking a job, in school or dealing with a health issue to qualify.

HOUSING

— Commit $150 billion toward housing affordability with the goal of building more than 1 million new rental and single-family homes. The goal would be to reduce price pressures by providing rental and down payment assistance.

ENVIRONMENT

— Fund $320 billion worth of clean energy tax credits. These credits over 10 years would help businesses and homeowners shift to renewable energy sources for electricity, vehicles and manufacturing.

— Direct $105 billion toward investments that would improve communities' ability to withstand the extreme weather caused by climate change. The funding would also create a Civilian Climate Corps that focuses on conserving public lands and bolster community resilience to flooding, drought and other weather emergencies.

— Provide $110 billion to help develop new domestic supply chains and develop new solar and battery technologies. Support would also be given to existing steel, cement and aluminum industries.

— Use $20 billion for the government to become the buyer of clean energy technologies as part of the procurement process.

TAXES

— Beefs up the IRS to improve collections and close the gap between taxes owed and taxes paid.

— A 15% minimum income tax on large corporations, along with a 1% surcharge on corporate stock buybacks.

— A new surtax on multi-millionaires and billionaires.

— Aligning the U.S. with an agreement reached by more than 100 countries earlier this month designed to deter multinational companies from stashing profits in low-tax countries.

— Closes a provision that allows some wealthy taxpayers to avoid paying the 3.8% Medicare tax on their earnings.

WHAT'S OUT OF THE BILL

— A proposal to expand Medicare to cover dental and vision care is out because of concerns about the overall costs.

— A proposal to provide paid family and medical leave to new parents, those caring for loved ones or those recovering from an illness. The United States is one of the only countries in the world that doesn’t guarantee paid leave.

— A proposal to have Medicare negotiate prescription drug prices.

WASHINGTON —

Deadline-driven, President Joe Biden brought two pivotal senators to his Delaware home Sunday for talks aimed at resolving the disputes that have stymied the Democrats' wide-ranging social safety net and environmental measure at the core of his domestic agenda.

Beyond the domestic timetable, Biden is pressing for progress so he can spotlight his administration's achievements to world leaders at overseas summits that get underway this week.

Related video above: Biden CNN town hall recap

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said she expected an agreement on a framework by week's end, paving the way for a House vote on a separate $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill before next Sunday, when a series of transportation programs will lapse.

“That’s the plan,” she said.

The White House said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., came to Biden's home in Wilmington, where he was spending the weekend, for the session but did not immediately provide a statement detailing what was discussed.

Manchin and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., two of their party's most moderate members, have insisted on reducing the size of the enormous package and have pressed for other changes.

Pelosi said she was waiting for the Senate to wrap up talks and was expecting a plan to be introduced as early as Monday. Top Democrats are scrambling to have a framework so they can move to pass the infrastructure bill, which progressives in the House have held up as leverage to force an agreement on the bigger package of health care, education and environment initiatives.

“I think we’re pretty much there,” said Pelosi, stressing that a few “last decisions” need to be made. "It is less than what was projected to begin with, but it’s still bigger than anything we have ever done in terms of addressing the needs of America’s working families.”

Democrats initially planned that the measure would contain $3.5 trillion worth of spending and tax initiatives over 10 years. But demands by moderates led by Manchin and Sinema to contain costs mean its final price tag could well be less than $2 trillion.

Disputes remain over whether some priorities must be cut or excluded. These include plans to expand Medicare coverage, child care assistance and helping lower-income college students. Manchin, whose state has a major coal industry, has opposed proposals to penalize utilities that do not switch quickly to clean energy.

Pelosi said Democrats were still working to keep in provisions for four weeks of paid family leave but acknowledged that other proposals such as expanding Medicare to include dental coverage could prove harder to save because of cost. “Dental will take a little longer to implement,” she said.

Also expected to be trimmed is a clean energy proposal that was the centerpiece of Biden’s strategy for fighting climate change. Biden has set a goal of reducing U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by at least 50% by 2030. But Manchin has made clear he opposes the initial clean energy proposal, which was to have the government impose penalties on electric utilities that fail to meet clean energy benchmarks and provide financial rewards to those that do.

Democrats were hoping Biden could cite major accomplishments when he attends a global conference in Scotland on climate change in early November after attending a summit of world leaders in Rome.

Sen. Angus King, a Maine independent who caucuses with Democrats, said the expected cuts to the clean energy provisions in the spending bill were especially disappointing because “it weakens Joe Biden’s hands in Glasgow."

“If we’re going to get the rest of the world to take serious steps to remedy this problem, we’ve got to do it ourselves,” he said.

Pelosi insisted that Democrats had pieced together other policies in the spending bill that could reduce emissions. “We will have something that will meet the president’s goals,” she said.

The White House and congressional leaders have tried to push monthslong negotiations toward a conclusion by the end of October. Democrats’ aim is to produce an outline by then that would spell out the overall size of the measure and describe policy goals that leaders as well as progressives and moderates would endorse.

The wide-ranging measure carries many of Biden's top domestic priorities. Party leaders want to end internal battles, avert the risk that the effort could fail and focus voters' attention on the plan's popular programs for helping families with child care, health costs and other issues.

Democrats also want to make progress that could help Democrat Terry McAuliffe win a neck-and-neck Nov. 2 gubernatorial election in Virginia.

The hope is that an agreement between the party's two factions would create enough trust to let Democrats finally push through the House the separate $1 trillion package of highway and broadband projects.

That bipartisan measure was approved over the summer by the Senate. But it stalled after House progressives pulled their support due to disagreements on the bigger spending bill, causing Congress to miss an initial deadline in late September and to rush to approve stopgap money for lapsing transportation programs. Pelosi later set an Oct. 31 target for passage of the infrastructure bill, though lawmakers already have slipped past last Friday's goal set by Democratic leaders to reach agreement on the spending package.

With Republicans fully opposed to Biden’s spending plans, the president needs all Democrats in the 50-50 split Senate for passage and can only spare a few votes in the House.

Rep. Ro Khanna, a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, maintained that his caucus will not budge on supporting the infrastructure bill before Oct. 31 if there is no agreement on the broader package, which would be passed under so-called budget reconciliation rules.

“The president needs the reconciliation agreement to go to Glasgow,” said Khanna, D-Calif. “That’s what is going to deal with climate change, that’s what’s going to hit his goals of 50% reduction by 2030. I’m confident we will have an agreement.”

Pelosi spoke on CNN's “State of the Union," King appeared on NBC's “Meet the Press" and Khanna on “Fox News Sunday.”

___

AP Congressional Correspondent Lisa Mascaro and Associated Press writer Alan Fram contributed to this report.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine on Friday ordered $390 million across-the-board budget cuts for the rest of the fiscal year, citing the ongoing economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic. A new budget year begins July 1.

The Republican governor also announced that — because the cuts aren’t as big as last year — an additional $160 million can be provided to the state Department of Education and $100 million to the Department of Higher Education. This was money that was previously withheld.

“As many schools, colleges and universities return to in-person learning, it’s important that the funding be reinstated,” DeWine said. The governor has set a goal of K-12 students returning to some form of in-person learning by March 1.

In June, DeWine cut $775 million from the budget because of plummeting revenue due to the pandemic. Ohio’s total 2021 budget, including state and federal funds, is about $72 billion. But much of that is tied up in mandatory programs like Medicaid, the joint state-federal health care program for poor children and families.

Also Friday, DeWine extended the state 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew, which expires Saturday, until Jan. 30. The pandemic-driven curfew requires people to stay at home during those hours except for work, food purchases, medical appointments and other necessary travel.

This extension is much shorter than the previous order, which ran from Dec. 31 to Jan. 23. On Thursday, DeWine suggested the next step might be to extend the curfew to 11 p.m., but said, “We’re just not there.”

The seven-day rolling average of daily new coronavirus cases in Ohio did not increase over the past two weeks, going from 7,527 new cases per day on Jan. 7 to 6,059 new cases per day on Jan. 21, according to an Associated Press analysis of data provided by The COVID Tracking Project.

WASHINGTON —

Democrats pushed a $3.5 trillion framework for bolstering family services, health, and environment programs through the Senate early Wednesday, advancing President Joe Biden’s expansive vision for reshaping federal priorities just hours after handing him a companion triumph on a hefty infrastructure package.

Lawmakers approved Democrats’ budget resolution on a party-line 50-49 vote, a crucial step for a president and party set on training the government’s fiscal might on assisting families, creating jobs and fighting climate change. Higher taxes on the wealthy and corporations would pay for much of it. Passage came despite an avalanche of Republican amendments intended to make their rivals pay a price in next year’s elections for control of Congress.

House leaders announced their chamber will return from summer recess in two weeks to vote on the fiscal blueprint, which contemplates disbursing the $3.5 trillion over the next decade. Final congressional approval, which seems certain, would protect a subsequent bill actually enacting the outline’s detailed spending and tax changes from a Republican filibuster in the 50-50 Senate, delays that would otherwise kill it.

Even so, passing that follow-up legislation will be dicey with party moderates wary of the massive $3.5 trillion price tag vying with progressives demanding aggressive action. The party controls the House with just three votes to spare, while the evenly divided Senate is theirs only due to Vice President Kamala Harris tie-breaking vote. Solid GOP opposition seems guaranteed.

Senate Budget Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., once a progressive voice in Congress' wilderness and now a national figure wielding legislative clout, said the measure would help children, families, the elderly and working people — and more.

"It will also, I hope, restore the faith of the American people in the belief that we can have a government that works for all of us, and not just the few," he said.

Republicans argued that Democrats' proposals would waste money, raise economy-wounding taxes, fuel inflation and codify far-left dictates that would harm Americans. They were happy to use Sanders, a self-avowed democratic socialist, to try tarring all Democrats backing the measure.

If Biden and Senate Democrats want to "outsource domestic policy to Chairman Sanders" with a "historically reckless taxing and spending spree," Republicans lack the votes to stop them, conceded Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. "But we will debate. We will vote."

The Senate turned to the budget hours after it approved the other big chunk of Biden's objectives, a compromise $1 trillion bundle of transportation, water, broadband and other infrastructure projects. That measure, passed 69-30 with McConnell among the 19 Republicans backing it, also needs House approval.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., assured progressives that Congress will pursue sweeping initiatives going beyond that infrastructure package.

"To my colleagues who are concerned that this does not do enough on climate, for families, and making corporations and the rich pay their fair share: We are moving on to a second track, which will make a generational transformation in these areas," Schumer said.

Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., missed the budget votes to be with his ailing wife.

In a budget ritual, senators plunged into a "vote-a-rama," a nonstop parade of messaging amendments that often becomes a painful all-night ordeal. This time, the Senate held more than 40 roll calls by the time it approved the measure at around 4 a.m. EDT, more than 14 hours after the procedural wretchedness began.

With the budget resolution largely advisory, the goal of most amendments was not to win but to force the other party's vulnerable senators to cast troublesome votes that can be used against them in next year's elections for congressional control.

Republicans crowed after Democrats opposed GOP amendments calling for the full-time reopening of pandemic-shuttered schools and boosting the Pentagon's budget and retaining limits on federal income tax deductions for state and local levies. They were also happy when Democrats showed support for Biden's now suspended ban on oil and gas leasing on federal lands, which Republicans said would prompt gasoline price increases.

One amendment may have boomeranged after the Senate voted 99-0 for a proposal by freshman Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., to curb federal funds for any municipalities that defund the police. That idea has been rejected by all but the most progressive Democrats, but Republicans have persistently accused them anyway of backing it.

In an animated, sardonic rejoinder, Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., called Tuberville's amendment "a gift" that would let Democrats "put to bed this scurrilous accusation that somebody in this great esteemed body would want to defund the police." He said he wanted to “walk over there and hug my colleague."

Republicans claimed two narrow victories with potential implications for future votes, with West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, one of the chamber's more conservative Democrats, joining them on both nonbinding amendments.

One indicated support for health care providers who refuse to participate in abortions. The other voiced opposition to teaching critical race theory, which considers racism endemic to American institutions. There's scant evidence that it's part of public school curriculums.

The budget blueprint envisions creating new programs including tuition-free pre-kindergarten and community college, paid family leave and a Civilian Climate Corps whose workers would tackle environmental projects. Millions of immigrants in the U.S. illegally would have a new chance for citizenship, and there would be financial incentives for states to adopt more labor-friendly laws.

Medicare would add dental, hearing and vision benefits, and tax credits and grants would prod utilities and industries to embrace clean energy. Child tax credits beefed up for the pandemic would be extended, along with federal subsidies for health insurance.

Besides higher taxes on the wealthy and corporations, Democrats envision savings by letting the government negotiate prices for pharmaceuticals it buys, slapping taxes on imported carbon fuels and strengthening IRS tax collections. Democrats have said their policies will be fully paid for, but they'll make no final decisions until this fall's follow-up bill.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The Ohio Senate’s budget plan would squash the state’s momentum toward boosting broadband access and make it harder to get more residents connected to high-speed internet in areas where the private sector isn’t stepping in, Lt. Gov. Jon Husted said.

As lawmakers sort through competing state budget proposals this week in pursuit of an agreement, Republican Gov. Mike DeWine’s administration is advocating for them to keep the $190 million that the House proposed for expanding residential broadband and scrap the Senate’s proposed restrictions for local government-owned broadband networks.

Operators of such networks say the Senate proposal could hamstring or kill their operations just as they’re seeing a federal tailwind. President Joe Biden’s administration is advocating for funding such networks and local governments getting access to huge amounts of federal relief funding that could be used to address broadband needs.

The pandemic exposed how important high-speed internet has become for schooling, business and other aspects of modern life. Economic development officials consider it an essential service, akin to public utilities. But state officials say an estimated 300,000 households and at least 1 million residents across Ohio lack broadband, and some advocates say the numbers are even higher.

The language passed by the Republican-led Senate would restrict local governments to establishing government-owned networks to provide broadband service only in “unserved” areas within their own jurisdiction — limiting partnerships and excluding service to adjacent areas, even if those might be economical. The bill also would restrict how those networks could use federal or other funds toward the substantial costs of such projects.

For communities hoping to use federal relief funding to create or expand their own broadband networks, “This bill could just cut us off at the knees,” said Bethany Dentler, executive director of the Medina County Economic Development Corporation. “And it’s the citizens and the businesses who are worse off for it.”

The open-access broadband network Medina County created has helped improve access and lowered customers’ broadband costs, she said. But she said the budget legislation would block the subscriber growth that the county’s network needs to help cover its costs, and could jeopardize a private-sector partner’s $50 million commitment to expanding residential broadband in the area.

It’s also possible the restrictions could be challenged as an intrusion on local governments’ “home rule” rights under Ohio law, said Lindsay Miller, a former director of the nonprofit Connect Ohio who now works on broadband issues with the Ice Miller law firm.

Senate President Matt Huffman, R-Lima, indicated the language was added to the bill to make sure municipalities are serving underserved areas in their own jurisdictions, not getting into the broadband business as profit-seeking competitors to private providers in a wider area.

The lieutenant governor argues that’s not the problem. Solutions are still needed for areas — often poor or rural areas — where private providers understandably don’t operate because they can’t make enough money to justify their investment, said Husted, who also leads the state’s InnovateOhio effort.

The state took a step to address that this spring by allotting an initial $20 million for the new Residential Broadband Expansion Grant Program, intended to connect more hard-to-reach homes by funding the parts of such projects that providers consider unjustifiable from a business perspective.

The House version of the budget included another $190 million, but Senate Republicans excluded that funding. Huffman said more clarity was needed about the plan for using that money.

Husted said the level of interest expressed for potential projects is already exceeding the amount proposed by the House.

“We’re trying to help the communities and the people who don’t have access because the private sector isn’t coming,” he said.