Axios
Chamber warns Biden not to submit to progressive desire
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is appealing to the Biden government not to let Republicans run around to pass the president’s $ 1.9 billion stimulus package. Why it matters: The historically conservative group fears that if President Biden submits it, it could jeopardize any chance of duality for future legislation, such as highly anticipated infrastructure plans and climate change bills. Supports safe, smart, sensible journalism. Sign up here for Axios newsletters. Behind the scenes: the Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday sent a letter to Biden and members of Congress outlining the areas of agreement in the proposals of the various parties and calling for a compromise. * Neil Bradley, the chamber’s chief of staff, told Axios he was concerned that all of Biden’s talks on unity could be undone with a single decision to use the budget reconciliation process to push through the stimulus by a simple majority vote. * “If you start doing things on a biased basis, especially when there is the opportunity for negotiation, then it becomes really difficult to return to dual discussions,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told some of these concerns. daily briefing, which told reporters: ‘Republicans can get their ideas going and see them adopted’ during reconciliation. * Through that process, the Democrats were able to pass the package by a simple majority vote, instead of the usual 60 votes needed for the most important legislation. ” At any point in the process, a dual bill could succeed on the floor. ‘Just creating the option for reconciliation with a budget resolution does not exclude other legislative options,’ she said. On Capitol Hill, Republican leadership makes the same case as the chamber. * Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on Tuesday that Democrats had chosen “a completely biased way” by forcing the process to proceed through the budget, enabling them to bypass the IDP. “We start completely biased. I think it’s a shame,” the minority leader said. Biden has so far been drawing the line. He told the Senate Democrats during the virtual lunch on Tuesday afternoon that he wanted to continue to compromise, but the proposal that ten Republicans gave him on Monday was too small. Smarter, faster with the news read by CEOs, entrepreneurs and top politicians. Sign up here for Axios newsletters.