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A bipartisan group of senators asks the White House for more details on its $ 1.9 trillion bailout, with some suggesting to administration officials on Sunday that President Biden needs to provide more information on how the money would be spent – and consider splitting his ambitious bill. in smaller proposals.
Sixteen senators from the two main parties and three senior White House officials gathered virtually on Sunday afternoon to discuss Mr Biden’s US bailout. The hour-and-15-minute call was put together by moderate Democratic Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia.
Contingency plan proposed by Mr. Biden includes $ 400 billion to slow the spread of COVID-19 and increase immunization capacities; over $ 1 trillion to help families in need of direct financial support; and $ 440 billion in emergency funds for small businesses and cash-poor communities.
The package includes $ 1,400 stimulus checks which, combined with the recent round of $ 600 payments, brings the total relief sent to Americans to $ 2,000. The amount of direct aid to be sent to individuals has been a key sticking point in the negotiations for the relief plan adopted at the end of 2020. Other financial aid includes the expansion of unemployment insurance by $ 100, bringing the weekly total to $ 400 and increasing the child tax credit to $ 3,000 per child.
Meeting attendees stressed they were pushing the administration for more details on how quickly it can distribute the vaccine across the country, saying it was an urgent priority.
“There was certainly a consensus that the number one priority was vaccination,” said Maine Senator Angus King, an independent. “And also the testing and the tracing, we can’t let go. But a consensus that we need to identify the bottlenecks, be it production, distribution, administration of the vaccine, and taking action to aggressively on this, number one priority, and there was absolute consensus on it. “
Some of the attendees have indicated that they would like the Senate to work out a framework for a deal within the next two weeks – before former President Trump’s impeachment trial begins on February 8. But others said the impeachment trial had not been launched. .
Although some participants called the meeting “productive” and a good first step, Republican Senator Susan Collins, who attended the meeting, called it “premature” to discuss legislative action of this magnitude and this size. scope. She said she would come up with a more “targeted” package, focusing particularly on vaccine distribution.
Representatives for both parties to the appeal said they would lobby the Biden administration for clarity on how it calculated the potential federal aid needed for schools, states and cities. Some senators are asking for more information on how aid might be distributed to cash-strapped municipalities and states.
King said there had been “a lot of data talk” about how aid was calculated.
“In other words, they have, I think, $ 130 billion for education,” King said. “Where did it come from? What is the basis? And there were questions about it. Another sort of detailed question is, how much money is still going on? How much has been committed and come from the plans. previous help? “
Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, who was also part of Sunday’s meeting, said “more data would be useful.”
She said there was a lot of talk about “targeted aid” to states, especially recognizing which states will have positive revenues and require less aid.
“The state and local needs is one of the things that continued to be a problem,” Shaheen said. “It was a problem because we were trying to roll out the latest COVID package in December.”
But Shaheen called it a “really positive start.”
“The fact that we have a new administration not even a week on the job and they are reaching out to the bipartisan group of senators who were really important in getting the latest COVID relief package,” Shaeen said. “It was an opportunity to hear the administration their reasoning behind what is in the COVID package and for us to ask questions and express our views.”
Congress Passes $ 900 Billion Relief Plan in December, which several senators mentioned during the discussion of Sunday’s appeal.
“Remember we just spent close to a trillion dollars less than three weeks ago,” King said. “So we need to know where that is in terms of execution, how much has been distributed, how much is left, to what extent the money that has not been spent has been factored into the new proposal.”
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