[ad_1]
Biden met with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer in Wilmington, Del., On Friday to discuss how to get a bill through Congress in the lame duck, fitting into talks that have been stalled for months. He and his key aides have been lobbying publicly and privately for Congress to pass another coronavirus relief package as soon as possible, warning that failure to act will leave the virus unchecked and the economy unsupported as the country is heading for a long winter.
Biden, Pelosi and Schumer agreed that such a package must include priorities such as helping small businesses, money for state and local governments, expanded unemployment benefits and “affordable health care for millions. of families, ”according to a reunion reading provided by the Biden Transition team.
However, there is no way forward without Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who seems unwilling to embrace the kind of multibillion-dollar relief package Democrats want, especially when ‘it’s about providing aid to states and local governments.
People close to Biden’s Transition Economics team say they are keenly aware they will have to deal with a Republican Senate if Democrats don’t win two second-round races in Georgia and perhaps can’t pass a stimulus package as important as they would like. Republican senators tried to push through a $ 500 billion package in October, and most were reluctant to consider anything above $ 1 trillion.
Republican and Democratic Congressional leaders who met Thursday couldn’t even agree on what they were talking about: Schumer framed the discussion as restarting Covid relief negotiations, while GOP aides said it was simply the spending bill that Congress is due to pass in December 11.
One potential way forward is for both parties to agree to expand some relief programs through this spending bill. Lawmakers could use the deadline to renew some existing programs that will currently expire at the end of the year – including expanded unemployment insurance, a nationwide moratorium on evictions, and forbearance on student loans – as part of or alongside it to this legislation.
“This is the natural pressure point,” said a Democratic House aide.
Biden begins negotiations that have failed for months, with key Trump negotiators, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Mark Meadows, the White House chief of staff, unable to strike a deal with Pelosi despite a seemingly endless string of negotiations. meetings and calls.
Entering the breach now could be risky for Biden, who will not be sworn in for two months. But Rahm Emanuel, who helped push through an economic stimulus bill in Congress in the early months of the Obama administration while he was White House chief of staff, said getting a Compromise in the lame duck could allow Biden to use his limited political capital to lobby. other priorities once he takes office.
“One less thing to worry about is one less thing to worry about,” Emanuel said.
Waiting until after inauguration day could increase the odds of getting a bigger deal – or at least one for which Biden could more easily take credit for. But that’s not Biden’s goal, said a person in contact with the transition team.
“They care more about the government than the politics about it,” the person said.
Jared Bernstein, former chief economist to Biden under the Obama administration who remains an informal economic adviser, admitted this week that new presidents “generally want to wait until they are in the reins of power before putting their fingerprints on policies emerging from the door.”
“But in this case, you hear the president-elect say that this is something that should happen now,” Bernstein said during a conference wednesday. “And the reason is that the economy is at a very difficult time.”
The new push for a deal ahead of inauguration day comes as new claims for unemployment benefits have started to rise again after weeks of steadily declining, and the number of Americans who have been unemployed for more than six months increasing at its fastest rate ever. About 12 million Americans are expected to lose their unemployment assistance at the end of the year unless Congress decides to pass a deal.
Biden’s transition team is working hard to ensure that the next package includes wording on small business relief funds through the Paycheck Protection Program that would ensure that black-owned businesses and d Others who struggled to get loans the first time are given priority.
Black-owned businesses fail at a much higher rate than white-owned businesses, and those that have survived are at a much higher risk of failing over the next few months – in part because the loan program works. thanks to existing banking relationships that many minorities – lack small and micro-owned enterprises. Two people close to the Biden team said it was critical that this issue be addressed.
They are also focused on securing funding for struggling state and local governments and extending improved unemployment benefits – though both remain deeply contentious issues between Democrats and the GOP Senate.
“We may have to give up something at McConnell that we really don’t want to give up to get it, but we just have to do it,” said one person close to the transition about extending jobless benefits.
Hotels, restaurants and other industries hit hard by the pandemic, meanwhile, have already started pressuring Biden’s team after months of unsuccessful efforts to convince lawmakers and the Trump administration to adopt a plan. of law.
A coalition of business groups are preparing to launch a post-Thanksgiving digital ad blitz targeting Biden’s transition as well as Congress and the White House. Business groups will also urge hotel owners, restaurateurs and other members of their members to make calls and send emails urging lawmakers to strike a deal.
Brian Crawford, the lead lobbyist for the American Hotel & Lodging Association, said he hoped that after campaigning as a unifier, Biden “will urge Congress to seek a deal before officially taking the oath.
“We have businesses that are going bankrupt,” Crawford added. “We cannot wait until January or February to be relieved.”
At the very least, business groups are pushing for Congress to authorize another round of loans through the Paycheck Protection Program, which distributed about $ 525 billion in forgivable loans to small businesses before closing in August. Nearly $ 134 billion that Congress coughed up to fund loans before the program closed remains unused.
“The president-elect is the head of the Democratic Party,” said Tori Emerson Barnes, senior lobbyist for the US Travel Association. “He just won the presidency. And I think its influence is significant.
“If anyone can bring people together, it should be him,” she added.
Alex Thompson contributed reporting.
[ad_2]
Source link