[ad_1]
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Joe Biden slammed Republican alternative to his $ 1.9 trillion COVID bailout as insufficient as Senate Democrats have argued, voting to start a process that could single-handedly endorse his sweeping bailout, if Republicans refuse to back him.
Biden and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen joined Democratic senators for a private virtual meeting on Tuesday, both declaring the Republicans’ $ 618 billion offer was too small. They called for swift action to stem the coronavirus pandemic crisis and its economic fallout.
Biden was likely to repeat that message on Wednesday as he stepped up his public engagements with lawmakers on the issue. The White House announced that Biden would discuss the bailout with House Democrats over the phone, followed by an Oval Office meeting with Democratic senators.
As the White House seeks to pass a bipartisan bill, Democrats have rallied their ever-thinner majority in the Senate, voting 50-49, to kick off a lengthy process of approving Biden’s bill with or without backing of the GOP. The goal is to have COVID-19 aid approved by March, when additional unemployment assistance and other pandemic aid expires.
“President Biden has spoken of the need for Congress to respond boldly and quickly,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said after lunch. “If we made such a small package, we would be mired in the COVID crisis for years.”
Democrats’ swift action on Capitol Hill underscores the urgency of implementing Biden’s top legislative priority even as discussions progress privately between Republicans and the White House, as well as with centrist Democrats, over the changes potentials of the package to gain wider bipartisan support.
Biden made his point during the virtual lunch with Democrats on the need to remember working and middle-class families – even those like nurses and pipefitters who make $ 150,000 for a family of four people – who are struggling during the crisis, according to one person granted anonymity to discuss the private call.
The night before, Biden met with 10 Republican senators present their $ 618 billion alternative and let them know that it was insufficient to meet the country’s needs. The President has made it clear that he will not delay aid in hopes of gaining GOP support.
While no compromise was found during Monday night’s session, White House talks with Republicans are underway in private.
Result will test new president striving to unify country but facing rise in death toll from COVID-19 and stubbornly high unemployment rates, with political risks for all parties. Distributions of vaccines, direct payments of $ 1,400 to households, reopening of schools and assistance to businesses are all at stake.
Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell criticized Democrats for doing it on their own. He said he spoke to Biden ahead of his meeting with all 10 GOP senators.
“They took a totally partisan path,” McConnell said. “It is sad.”
The two sides are far apart, with the Republican group of 10 senators mainly focusing on the health care crisis and direct aid of $ 1,000 to Americans versus the $ 1,400 payments offered by Biden, while the president leads Democrats towards a more radical rescue plan to consolidate. households, local governments and a partially closed economy.
In the White House, press secretary Jen Psaki reiterated Biden’s view that the risk is not in making too big a package, but in providing too little help. She said the president hoped GOP ideas would come forward and nothing was preventing Republicans from participating in the process.
“We have to make sure people get the help they need,” she said.
White House officials have previously cited the US Chamber of Commerce as evidence of broad support for their plan, but the country’s largest trading group has issued a letter. Tuesday which called for a bipartisan compromise.
“There should be common ground for a bipartisan proposal that can become law,” said Neil Bradley, executive vice president and chief policy officer, in an interview.
The cornerstone of the GOP plan is $ 160 billion for the healthcare response – the distribution of vaccines, a “massive expansion” of testing, protective equipment and funds for rural hospitals, similar to what Biden has proposed.
But from there, the two plans diverge radically. Biden is proposing $ 170 billion for schools, compared to $ 20 billion in the Republican plan. Republicans also wouldn’t give states anything, money that Democrats say is just as important, with $ 350 billion in Biden’s plan to keep police, firefighters and other workers at work.
The GOP’s $ 1,000 direct payments would go to fewer households, to individuals earning up to $ 40,000 per year or $ 80,000 for couples. That’s less than Biden’s proposal of $ 1,400 in direct payments to higher income levels, up to $ 300,000 for some households.
Republicans are offering $ 40 billion for trade assistance for the Paycheck Protection Program. But democratic priorities have disappeared, such as the gradual lifting of the federal minimum wage at $ 15 an hour.
According to Schumer, Biden told Democratic senators that he had let Republicans know “he was ready to make changes.”
But Biden and Yellen both recalled lessons from the government’s response to the 2009 financial crisis, which some argued were inadequate as conditions deteriorated. Biden said he told Republicans their offer was “far too small,” Schumer said.
Gaining the support of 10 Republicans would be important, potentially giving Biden the necessary votes in the Senate 50-50 at the 60-vote threshold typically required to move legislation forward. Vice President Kamala Harris is the tiebreaker.
Cautious Democrats continued Tuesday’s vote, not wanting to take too long to woo GOP support that may not materialize or lead to too thin a package.
The procedural steps are the basis for a possible approval as part of the budget reconciliation process that would allow the bill to pass with a majority of 51 votes in the Senate, rather than the 60 votes generally required.
Tuesday’s vote opens 50 hours of debate on a budget resolution, with amendment votes expected later this week. The Chamber is about to initiate a similar process.
___
Associated Press editors Alan Fram, Jonathan Lemire, Alexandra Jaffe, Darlene Superville and Aamer Madhani contributed to this report.
[ad_2]
Source link