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Members of Congress from both chambers and both parties on Tuesday proposed a $ 908 billion coronavirus stimulus bill that included improved unemployment benefits, small business support, and support for state and local governments.
But that doesn’t include a second round of $ 1,200 stimulus checks.
The framework has yet to be enshrined in legislation, adopted by both chambers and signed by the president.
It includes $ 228 billion in new forgivable loans for small businesses and made it clear that the aid was tax-free, $ 120 billion for state and local governments, $ 180 billion in insurance benefits Unemployment improved by $ 300 per week for 18 weeks, $ 92 billion for education and child care. and $ 45 billion for airlines, buses, Amtrak, and transit systems such as NJ Transit.
“We just can’t leave town and leave anyone out in the cold,” Representative Josh Gottheimer, D-5th Dist., Said at the Capitol Hill press conference with 13 other lawmakers. “This is a critical down payment on what our families, small businesses and local communities need.”
There was also funding for nutrition programs, rental assistance, student loans, US Postal Service operations, health care providers, and vaccine research, development and distribution. These were deemed to have priority over another round of stimulus checks.
This is equivalent to half of the $ 1.8 trillion in stimulus spending that House of Commons Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin were discussing before the election.
Lawmakers who announced this latest effort to find a compromise have described their bill as a four-month emergency relief package for Americans struggling to overcome the coronavirus pandemic.
“Maybe the only time to borrow money is when there’s a crisis and it’s a crisis,” said U.S. Senator Mitt Romney, R-Utah, the Republican presidential candidate from 2012. “This isn’t a $ 1.8 trillion stimulus bill, it’s a half that amount relief bill.”
It remains to be seen how to protect businesses, schools and other institutions from lawsuits from customers or employees infected with the coronavirus, a key Republicans demand, while also including security protections.
Supporters have said Congress could draft another spending bill next year after Joe Biden becomes president, but they don’t want to go home for the holidays without passing legislation.
“It would be stupidity on steroids if Congress left for Christmas without making an interim package,” said US Senator Mark Warner, D-Va.
Indeed, Biden, in a speech on Tuesday announcing his economic advisers, called on Congress to “come together and adopt a strong relief package” while saying his transition team is already working on a new aid package. to deal with the pandemic. .
“Any package passed in the lame duck session is likely to be – at best – just the start,” he said.
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It remains to be seen whether Pelosi or Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Allows the compromise bill to be voted on.
Lawmakers said they briefed the two leaders on their negotiations, which took place over the past month as Congress failed to pass a new stimulus bill. None of the leaders supported the latest bipartisan attempt at compromise, proposed in September by the Problem Solvers Caucus.
“I have always encouraged our Democratic senators to sit down with Republicans and negotiate,” Democratic Senate Leader Chuck Schumer of New York said in a separate press conference on Tuesday. “It’s a very good effort.”
Pelosi, D-Calif., Said on Tuesday that Democratic leaders made a new proposal to McConnell and Republican House Leader Kevin McCarthy of California, and said Mnuchin told him he was considering both their ideas and the latest bipartite suggestions.
“Further relief from COVID is long overdue and must be embraced in this lame duck session,” Pelosi said.
House Democrats have twice approved over $ 2 trillion in stimulus legislation. Senate Republicans have objected to spending so much on a stimulus bill.
Although Senate Republicans failed to pass a smaller bill, they blamed Democrats for the stalemate, citing House provisions as temporarily suspending the $ 10,000 cap on the national tax deduction and local and enabling banks to provide financial services to legal marijuana businesses.
“The additional relief that would help families, workers, schools and small businesses cross the finish line has been delayed for months as Democratic leaders pursued an all-or-nothing approach,” the chief said. Senate majority Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Said Tuesday in the Senate.
But as a price for passing a bill, McConnell demanded additional taxpayer grants for religious and other private schools, as well as lawsuit protections for businesses.
And the GOP refused to accept the Democrats’ major demand for help from cash-strapped state and local governments to help pay the salaries of first responders, teachers and other public sector employees.
“The leader’s opinion appears to be that the only things that should be factored into the next COVID relief bill are things Republicans approve of, even though the country’s needs go far beyond that. that’s on their narrow list, ”Schumer told the Senate. ground.
U.S. Senator Robert Menendez, DN.J., told a meeting of the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday that 1.1 million state and local government employees had already lost their jobs, citing statistics from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
When Biden was vice president, federal aid to state governments was a key part of the $ 787 billion stimulus bill passed in 2009 in response to the Great Recession. It represented 42% of the package, or $ 330 billion, according to the California State Legislature’s Office of Tax and Policy Analysis.
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Jonathan D. Salant can be reached at [email protected].
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