Washington – Democratic leaders in Congress on Monday submitted a joint budget resolution that begins the process of succeeding President Biden’s comprehensive plan to eradicate the coronavirus without backing the Republican. set to meet with the President at the White House on their own framework.
The budget resolution tabled by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is the first step in the budget reconciliation process, which will enable Congress to pass Mr Biden’s $ 1.9 billion coronavirus package approve a simple majority. The resolution contains conciliation instructions setting out which congressional committees are responsible for drafting the legislation and how much they can spend. Once the House and Senate approve the decisions, the committees can work on the Reconciliation Bill.
“Congress is responsible for quickly providing immediate comprehensive relief to the American people who have been hurt by COVID-19,” Schumer and Pelosi said in a statement. “The cost of inactivity is high and growing, and the time for decisive action is now.”
The instructions instruct the relevant House and Senate panels to devise language that addresses several of the most important provisions in Mr. Biden’s plan discussed, including $ 1,400 direct payments to individuals and an extension of the unemployment insurance program to September with an improvement of $ 400 per week. The legislation would also include $ 350 billion for state and local governments, funding for school reopening and more money for vaccinations, testing and public health programs. The budget resolution calls for federal aid to support the use of the Defense Production Act to promote the production of necessities needed to combat the coronavirus, as well as money for small businesses.
In the absence of a summary provided by the Democrats, a provision raising the federal minimum wage to $ 15 per hour is included in Mr. Biden was, however, criticized by Republicans.
“The only thing we can not accept is a package that is too small or too narrow to pull our country out of this emergency,” Schumer said in a comment on the Senate floor. “We can not repeat the mistake of 2009, and we must act very quickly to provide this assistance to those in dire need.”
The New York Democrat said Republican input is “welcome.”
“COVID relief should also be the job of both Democrats and Republicans,” Schumer said.
The approval of an emergency relief plan is the first legislative priority of Mr. Biden, as the coronavirus pandemic continues to devastate the U.S. economy. While the president stressed that he wanted dual support for a coronavirus package, Republican senators have raised the $ 1.9 billion cost of Mr. The bite deterred.
A group of ten Republicans sent a letter to the president on Sunday asking to meet and discuss their own framework, which they said would have the support of both Democrats and Republicans. The plan is at $ 618 billion significantly smaller Mr. Biden’s and it does not include money for state and local governments, which was a bottleneck in previous negotiations on emergency relief measures.
Nine of the Republicans spent two hours with Mr. Pray together. Senator Susan Collins, the group’s leader, called the meeting “productive” and said she believed there was still hope for a bilateral agreement.
However, the White House said in a reading of the meeting that Mr. Biden “will not be satisfied with a package that can not meet at the moment.”