A group of ten Republican senators sent a letter to President Joe Biden on Sunday proposing a smaller coronavirus aid package than his $ 1.9 billion plan, asking him to negotiate with them to find a compromise on the issue of the new Covid-19 stimulation efforts.
The number of signatories is significant, as every bill passed under normal Senate rules will need at least 10 IDP supporters to be successful. It actually gives the letter an offer to work with Democrats to take new stimulus measures – with certain conditions.
In the letter, Republican lawmakers – a group that makes sense. Mitt Romney from Utah, Susan Collins from Maine and Lisa Murkowski from Alaska, as well as other relative moderates – their proposal, which they promised to make fully public on Monday. , could receive dual support as it reflects Biden’s call for $ 160 billion for coronavirus testing, detection, treatment and protection of supplies.
The legislators also said that their bill would include funding for direct payments to ‘families who need the most help’, a reference to some legislators’ desire to test direct payments; assistance for small businesses and childcare; and $ 4 billion for mental health and drug use.
They did not provide details, but the Washington Post reports that the IDP proposal would reduce the cost of new stimulus by $ 1.3 billion, to about $ 600 billion, and that this would be done through a number of democratic priorities. cut.
Democrats, for example, have demanded another round of direct payments of $ 1,400 to single people earning $ 75,000 or less a year, and to couples earning $ 150,000 or less. As Senator Bernie Sanders pointed out on ABCs This week On Sunday, the Democrats promised that there would be another round of direct payments of at least $ 1,400 if they won both Senate seats in January’s runoff games in Georgia – and they did.
“You can not fight over a series of issues, and then, after the election, if you may get, say, ‘Oh, well, you know what, we’re going to,’ Sanders said.
Acceptance of the new Republican proposal will force Democrats to do so, but it will reduce direct payments to $ 1,000 per person, the Post reports.
And these payments are likely to be sent to a much smaller group of people under the new Republican plan. Senator Rob Portman, one of the signatories to the letter in Ohio, told CNN State of the Union On Sunday, direct payments should be limited to individuals earning $ 50,000, or families earning $ 100,000. “Let’s focus on those who are struggling,” Portman said.
Portman also said the Democratic proposal to extend federal unemployment insurance (currently worth $ 300 a week) through September is premature, and that the program should also be better targeted.
Democrats have suggested that the program not only be expanded, but also expanded by increasing weekly payments to $ 400. The Post reports that the GOP plan aims to keep the weekly allowance at $ 300 and extend the program, which is currently due in March, until June.
The IDP plan also reportedly gets rid of the Democratic proposal to increase the federal minimum wage to $ 15 per hour, and is likely to reduce the amount of aid available to state and local governments.
The GOP signatories argue in their letter – and Sunday in television shows – that their proposal will give Biden a chance to fulfill his promise of ‘unity’, a theme of his inaugural address.
“In the spirit of duality and unity, we have developed a COVID-19 assistance framework that builds on previous COVID assistance laws, all of which have been passed with dual support,” the letter reads. “We ask for the opportunity to meet with you to discuss our proposal in more detail and how we can work together to meet the needs of the American people during this ongoing pandemic.”
And they claim that the current plans of the Democrats to send their preferential proposal through Congress through a process known as reconciliation, which will make it possible to pass legislation on budgetary matters in the Senate with ‘ a simple majority vote (a majority the Democrats now have as a result of their victories in Georgia) would – in Portman’s words – ‘poison the well’ for future dual legislative efforts.
State of the Union host Dana Bash asked Portman why he has supported Republicans in the past through reconciliation to promote controversial legislation, noting that it has been used in the Republican effort to destroy the Affordable Care Act and to implement Trump’s tax cuts in law . Portman responded that “reconciliation is not intended for the purposes for which they want to use it,” arguing that Democrats should not use reconciliation as their first resort.
However, Democrats have long been stimulated in their efforts to pass a comprehensive stimulus package, agreeing to a compromise bill in late 2020 after months of Republican refusal to consider a $ 3 billion bill passed in May 2020 by the Home passed.
Senate leader Majority Chuck Schumer said he was willing to “work with our Republican colleagues to promote coronavirus relief, but that Democrats” keep all our options on the table, including budget reconciliation. “
The receipt of Biden’s new IDP proposal has yet to be seen. Appear on State of the Union The director of the National Economic Council, Brian Deese, told Bash on Sunday: “We are pleased with the input to say where we may not have done everything right”, but argued: “The cost of doing too little now , is much greater than the cost of doing too much. ”
There is an urgent need for a new help package as federal coronavirus programs expire
As many federal coronavirus programs will expire in the coming months, it is urgently needed to work on the next round of stimuli. As Emox Stewart of Vox reported, delays with the passing of the last round meant cover gap for many unemployed.
On Friday, Biden stressed the importance of adopting a coronavirus stimulus bill, saying, “I support the failure of Covid relief with Republican support if we can get it, but Covid relief must succeed. There is no axis, and or, but no. ”
Biden says whether he supports the Covid relief through budget reconciliation: “I support Covid relief with the support of the Republicans if we can get it, but the Covid relief must succeed. pic.twitter.com/rm4etycvKb
– Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) 29 January 2021
Given the Democratic majority in the House, and the fact that legislation can pass in the House by a simple majority vote, there is a problem in the Senate to provide rapid assistance. There, Democrats faced finding 10 Republicans to support their proposal, with a moderate Republican on a plan like the one the 10 GOP senators led on Sunday, or passing legislation through reconciliation.
For any of these routes to work in the Senate, the Democrats must be a united front. As it currently stands, they hold the slimmest majority in the Senate evenly divided, with Vice President Kamala Harris as a breakaway.
And a united front is not self-evident, because there are some right-wing Democrats in the Senate who have not fully accepted all the proposals in Biden’s plan, something that Martha Raddatz, ABC, Sanders asked on Sunday.
She specifically asked Sanders about Joe Manchin in West Virginia, who said two-party legislation was important to him and who did not offer a minimum wage of $ 15. He also did not say whether he would side with Democrats if they chose to pursue reconciliation. Sanders expressed the belief that “all Democrats understand the need to continue” with coronavirus relief.
“The question is not twofold, but the question is how to address these crises now,” Sanders said. ‘If Republicans want to work with us, they have better ideas on how to address the crises, that’s great. But to be honest with you, I have not heard it yet. ”
Sanders added that there will be other opportunities for duality in the future, especially around issues such as prescription drug reform and infrastructure. “But at the moment, this country is facing an unprecedented set of crises,” he said.
One of the signatories to the GOP letter, Senator Bill Cassidy, suggested on Sunday that Republicans were not given enough opportunity to work on a dual agreement.
“If you want unity, you want duality, you have to start with the group that is willing to work together,” Cassidy said. Fox News Sunday.
As Republicans noted, Biden expressed a desire to work with Republicans on legislation. But as Ella Nilsen of Vox wrote, Biden’s ambitions to work across the aisle and succeed in its relief package could conflict with each other – especially given the more limited scale of relief the ten IDP senators are now proposing.
And Democrats seem to believe that if they can achieve just one of the president’s ambitions, the priority is to get the package ready. As Nilsen writes:
While Republicans in the two-party group are the ones campaigning for the reduction of Biden’s Covid-19 bill, the Democratic senators in the centrist group have not yet been so eager to scale back. Democrats recall that Senate Republicans used the budget reconciliation mechanism to pass their massive tax reduction bill in 2017, and some in the Democratic caucus think they should treat their priorities the same now that they have the majority.
Sanders, the chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, and the chairman of the House Budget Committee, John Yarmuth, told reporters that their committees were drafting resolutions on the budget reconciliation for the Covid-19 bill on assistance, which within a few days can pass as Schumer and Nancy, chairmen of the House. Pelosi gives them the green light.
These reconciliation decisions are already expected this week. Republicans can also sign up if they want to.