A $900billion Covid-19 aid package has all but collapsed in Congress after Mitch McConnell said the GOP would not support $160billion in state and local funds as part of a potential trade-off in the deal.
McConnell’s staff told top negotiators last night that the Senate majority leader sees no path to an agreement on a key aspect of the proposal.
In exchange for the $160billion package supported by Democrats, lawmakers had offered McConnell a slimmed-down version of the liability shield he wants for companies facing potential pandemic-related lawsuits.
McConnell criticized ‘controversial state bailouts’ during a speech in the Senate, as he insists on a more targeted aid package.
Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell, pictured, says Republican lawmakers will not support a $160billion aid package for state and local governments
The hardened stance from McConnell, who does not appear to have enough votes from his Republican majority for a far-reaching compromise, creates a new stalemate over the $900-billion-plus package.
Other legislative pile-ups now threaten Friday’s related business – a must-pass government funding bill.
If it does not clear Congress, that would trigger a federal government shutdown on Saturday.
The looming deadlines have not been sufficient to force an agreement despite the US breaking a record-high 3,000 daily deaths from Covid-19.
The House recessed for a few days, with leaders warning members to be prepared to return to Washington to vote on the year-end deals, while the Senate was planning a rare Friday session.
But McConnell’s staff conveyed to other negotiators it was ‘unlikely’ the trade-off proposed by the bipartisan group would be acceptable.
The breakdown over the aid package, after days of behind-the-scenes talks by a group of lawmakers fed up with inaction, comes as Donald Trump has taken the talks in another direction – insisting on a fresh round of $600 stimulus checks.
Trump’s $916billion plan would send a $600 direct payment to most Americans but eliminate a $300-per-week employment benefit favored by the bipartisan group of Senate negotiators.
Sending direct cash payments to households was not included in the bipartisan proposal, but has been embraced by some of the president’s fiercest critics.
These include New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Vermont senator Bernie Sanders, who introduced an amendment to include the checks with Trump ally and Missouri senator Josh Hawley.
Sanders said the unprecedented moment facing the nation with the pandemic and its economic fallout requires Congress to ‘take unprecedented action.’
Trump’s top negotiator, treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin, had reported headway on Thursday before the package from the bipartisan senators’ group fell apart.
Democratic House speaker Nancy Pelosi, pictured, says Congress could continue working after Christmas if necessary to get an agreement
House speaker Nancy Pelosi, said Congress would keep working up to or even after Christmas to get an agreement. The new Congress is being sworn in on January 3.
‘Now if we need more time then we take more time, but we have to have a bill and we cannot go home without it,’ Pelosi said. She also gave an upbeat assessment on the talks.
The bipartisan lawmakers held another virtual ‘dinner group’ meeting late Thursday to try to prop up the deal. They have been working furiously to try to bridge the stalemate over Covidaid.
The $900billion-plus proposal provides sweeping new funds for vaccines, small businesses, health care providers, schools and families suffering from the crisis.
The bipartisan negotiating group – led by Democrat Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Republicans Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, among others — was seeking to rally lawmakers behind the $908billion framework.
A key hold up has been the standoff over more money for the states, that Democrats – and some Republicans – want and the liability shield that is McConnell’s top GOP priority but that most Democrats oppose.
McConnell had initially proposed a five-year liability shield from virus lawsuits, retroactive to December 2019, but the bipartisan group was eyeing a scaled-back shield of six months to a year.
Labor and civil rights groups oppose any shield, which they say strips essential workers of potential legal recourse as they take risks during the pandemic.
Democratic leaders had wanted far more in state and local aid, but were accepting of the lower $160billion.
But many Republicans have long viewed the state and local aid as a bailout they would have trouble supporting, despite the pleas for funds coming from governors and mayors nationwide.
Late Thursday, senator Dick Durbin and other Democrats pitched another liability proposal to the bipartisan group, but it was rejected by Republicans, according to a Senate aide.
The White House offer has the endorsement of the top House Republican and apparent backing from McConnell, who had previously favored a $519billion GOP plan that has already failed twice.
But Democrats immediately blasted the plan over Trump’s refusal to back the partial restoration, to $300 per week, of pandemic jobless benefits that lapsed in August.
President-elect Joe Biden is pressing for as much pandemic relief as possible, although he not directly involved in the talks.
McConnell, like Pelosi, says Congress will not adjourn without providing the long-overdue Covid-19 relief.