WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump’s top negotiator on COVID-19 relief said Thursday there was headway on a $900 billion-plus plan and he cited similarities between the latest administration offer and an emerging measure from a bipartisan group of senators.
I have had a bunch of conversations. I spoke to senators on both sides last night, this morning,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said. We had a very productive call yesterday with a lot of people. So I think were making a lot of progress.”
But a one-week extension of a potential government shutdown appears to have sapped some urgency from the talks. The only must-do measure this week is the short-term government-wide funding bill that passed the House on Wednesday and needs to clear the Senate before Friday at midnight to avert a possible partial closure.
The measure would give lawmakers more time to sort through the mess they created for themselves after months of fighting and posturing. Deadlines, real and perceived, haven’t been sufficient to drive Washington’s factions to an agreement. The next deadline would be Dec. 18 but both House and Senate leaders say they won’t adjourn without passing an aid measure.
Republicans say the right people to handle final negotiations are the four leaders of Congress and the Trump administration, with the focus on a proposal by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., to eliminate a Democratic demand for $160 billion or so in assistance for state and local governments.
Top Democrats are placing their bets on a bipartisan group of senators trying to iron out a $908 billion package. That group is getting no encouragement from McConnell, but members are claiming progress on perhaps the most contentious item: a McConnell demand to give businesses and other organizations protections against COVID-19-related lawsuits.
The Trump administration is back in the middle of the negotiations with a $916 billion plan. It 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.
The offer has the endorsement of the top House Republican and apparent backing from McConnell, who had previously favored a $519 billion GOP plan that has already failed twice. But Democrats immediately blasted the plan over the administration’s refusal to back the partial restoration, to $300 per week, of bonus pandemic jobless benefits that lapsed in August.
President-elect Joe Biden is pressing for as much pandemic relief as possible, though he’s not directly involved in the talks. McConnell says Congress will not adjourn without providing the long-overdue COVID-19 relief. The pressure to deliver is intense; all sides say failure isnt an option.
The bipartisan negotiating group led by Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and GOP Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, among others is seeking to rally lawmakers behind a $908 billion framework that includes a $300-per-week pandemic jobless benefit and $160 billion for states and local governments.
It also includes a four-month extension of jobless benefits set to expire at the end of the month, $300 billion for paycheck protection” subsidies for struggling businesses, funding for vaccines and testing, and a host of smaller items such as aid to transit systems, the U.S. Postal Service and health care providers.
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