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A bipartisan COVID-19 stimulus proposal unveiled on Tuesday aims to end a long-standing deadlock on Capitol Hill over pandemic relief, including House of Commons Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s insistence that Republicans accept a massive all-or-nothing deal.
The $ 908 billion bipartisan proposal was unveiled by five Senate Democrats alongside Senate Republicans and House members from both parties.
“Today is a victory for the American people and a victory for common sense,” Senator Bill Cassidy (R-La.) Said at a press conference unveiling the plan. “It builds on President Trump’s commitment to do something.”
The proposal would partially revive federal unemployment supplement to $ 300 per week from $ 600 per week before it expires, and add $ 288 billion in new paycheck protection program forgivable loans for small businesses.
The plan also provides $ 45 billion for struggling airlines and transit systems, $ 160 billion for state and local governments and $ 16 billion for COVID-19 testing and vaccine distribution.
Senator Mark Warner (D-Va.) Said the proposal “is not going to make everyone happy” and that it was chopped “on pizza or on pasta at people like Lisa”, apparently a reference to Republican Senator from Alaska Lisa. Murkowski.
“It would be silly on steroids if Congress left for Christmas without doing an interim package,” Warner said.
Other Democrats supporting the plan include Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, and Angus King of Maine, who is an independent who caucuses with the Democrats.
Two more Democrats – Doug Jones of Alabama and Gary Peters of Michigan – recently sided with the Republicans in a vote on small business loans.
The proposal does not contain another round of $ 1,200 stimulus checks, despite broad bipartisan support. But it includes an assortment of smaller items, including $ 82 billion for schools, $ 10 billion for the U.S. Postal Service, and $ 5 billion for treatment for opioid addiction.
The bipartisan plan would create a new $ 25 billion housing assistance program and fund $ 10 billion for child care programs and $ 26 billion for nutrition and farm assistance, according to a file. information.
The land is unlikely to become law on its own, but reflects the momentum towards compromise in the closing days of this year’s legislative session.
Congress is due to pass a spending bill by Dec. 11 to prevent a partial government shutdown, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told reporters on Tuesday that the big spending deal “would be a way of add “COVID-19 relief.
“We don’t have time for messaging games. We don’t have time for long negotiations, ”McConnell said. “I hope this is something that could be promulgated by the president, be done quickly, deal with things we can agree on now. He added that there would still be discussions about “an additional package of a certain size”.
For months, McConnell (R-Ky.) Argued that lawmakers should embrace the most popular pandemic elements first, then debate and exchange on the more controversial details. But Democrats led by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California) have said a comprehensive COVID-19 bill is needed.
Sad stories on television of restaurateurs facing bankruptcy and huge pantry lines were no way out of the deadlock.
The main points of contention include Democrats who want a large amount of funds for state and local governments, which Republicans say would effectively bail out poorly managed Democratic areas. And McConnell has insisted on including corporate liability protection, except for gross negligence and misconduct, which most Democrats dismiss as potentially allowing companies to recklessly endanger people’s health.
While both sides generally agree large amounts of funding for COVID-19 schools and healthcare, many Senate Republicans are reluctant to increase the national debt after blowing billions this year into mass unemployment. Many conservatives have vehemently opposed the full revival of a weekly unemployment benefit of $ 600, which in some states can result in people earning more without working.
After negotiations failed, Trump signed executive orders in August to institute a nationwide ban on evictions during the pandemic and to postpone student loan payments. It also partially resurrected the weekly unemployment supplement, although those funds are now depleted and other protections expire this month.
House Democrats passed a more than $ 3 trillion relief bill in May and say they are ready to agree to a $ 2.4 trillion deal. Republicans unveiled a $ 1 trillion counter-offer in July that also stuttered.
The next session of Congress will begin on January 3, with Pelosi holding a narrower majority in the House and shifting control of the Senate. Republicans will hold at least 50 Senate seats, but two seats and control of the chamber will be decided by a run-off on Jan.5 in Georgia.
President-elect Joe Biden last week denied a report that he might be ready to break with Pelosi and agree to a compromise bill with the Republicans. He declined to comment on the bipartisan plan, tell reporters Tuesday that “I just heard about it. I’ll check it out when I get back.
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