The 75-minute call, introduced by Senator Joe Manchin (DW.Va.), is one of the first major calls the Biden government made while working to build support between parties for the $ 1.9 billion plan. Senators asked for more information on how the White House implemented its plan.
The senators have told White House officials that they are spending more on vaccine distribution, but some have deterred stimulus payments and urged the White House to target them, according to sources. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) urged Biden officials why families earning $ 300,000 are eligible and insists on focusing on lower-income workers.
“I was the first to raise the issue, but there seems to be a lot of agreement … that payments should be more targeted,” Collins said in an interview. “I would say that it was not clear to me how the government intended the $ 1.9 billion package for the package.”
Collins said the top line was a “concern” for her and that her two-party crew, led by Collins and Manchin, had to meet again to find out how to respond to a proposal that, according to Republican senators, did not go through. the Senate can not pass. The group was key to passing a $ 900 billion package in December, which many Republicans say makes an immediate large package difficult. The package included $ 600 in direct payments to many Americans.
“I would suggest that we get together and talk about what we think is a reasonable package, and one that can garner dual support,” Collins said. ‘The administration is very keen to move quickly. And we want to make sure there is justification, especially since there is so much money left over from the previous packages. ”
Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) also interviewed the price: “It’s not monopoly money,” as he put it.
“There is a fundamental decision here on the part of the administration and that is that they want to work on negotiating a dual proposal or they want to try to move the bigger package through reconciliation,” King said of the biased legislative tactics. . “It did not appear explicit today, but it is in the background.”
But King added that Biden’s officials were open to the senators’ input at the call, and that the top line number was discussed specifically during the call. “If they were interested in just sticking it through, they would not have interrupted the Packers game,” he joked, adding that the White House and senators were eager to find a deal.
Senator Jeanne Shaheen (DN.H.) praised the new White House for making such a quick call with the bipartisan group, a departure from the previous government. She said senators had asked for more information on the status of state and local government funding relief to gain a better understanding of the government’s ‘priorities’ and how they drafted the plan.
“It was a general issue that was expressed about a number of things: the more targeted the help can be where it is most needed, the more useful,” Shaheen said.
However, senators agreed that vaccine distribution should take precedence over provisions such as the $ 15 minimum wage, which could not get the support of ten Republicans. For now, Biden’s government is pursuing a bill through regular order rather than budget reconciliation, which could be used to evade a filibuster. But even some Democrats have indicated that they are not sold on the Biden package.
Reps Josh Gottheimer (DN.J.) and Tom Reed (RN.Y.), co-chairs of the House Problem Solvers Caucus, also joined the call.
The White House called for urgent action by Congress to send more money to communities hard hit and help increase resources to increase vaccinations, as the death toll exceeded 400,000 earlier this month. Biden promised to get 100 million vaccine shots to Americans within its first 100 days.