Pelosi, Schumer announce support for scaled-back stimulus deal, putting pressure on McConnell
The two top Democrats in Congress on Wednesday threw their weight behind a coronavirus stimulus package with a price-tag of less than $1 trillion — a major concession meant to put pressure on Republican leaders to come to the negotiating table as the pandemic continues to wreak havoc on the U.S. economy.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) — who for months fought for a stimulus bill earmarking at least $2 trillion — said they got on board with using the bipartisan $906 billion proposal as a starting point because time is running out to provide relief for millions of struggling Americans.
“In the spirit of compromise, we believe the bipartisan framework introduced by senators yesterday should be used as the basis for immediate bipartisan, bicameral negotiations,” the Democratic leaders said in a joint statement. “Of course, we and others will offer improvements, but the need to act is immediate and we believe that with good-faith negotiations we could come to an agreement.”
The concession came after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said he would move forward with a far smaller stimulus measure in the range of $550 billion, even though that bill has failed twice before in his chamber.
McConnell could face pressure from members of his own party to support the more robust funding measure since he endorsed a bill this summer that was slightly larger than that before reversing himself.
The compromise bill, unveiled Tuesday by Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W-Va.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine), proposes to extend the lapsed federal unemployment supplement at $300 per week for four months, funnel about $160 billion to cash-strapped state and local governments, refill the popular paycheck protection program for small businesses and send bailouts to some transit systems and airlines, including New York City’s MTA. The bill is also packed with aid for distribution of the COVID-19 vaccines that are expected to get rolled out by the end of the year.
The Manchin-Collins measure, which earned support from senators and House members of both parties, includes a liability shield for businesses that reopened during the pandemic — a provision McConnell has sought for months. Pelosi and Schumer have strenuously opposed such liability protections in the past, arguing it gives corporations a blank check to put workers at risk.
Pelosi and Schumer have long said that a bill in the $1 trillion range won’t be sufficient, especially as the pandemic rebounds, with infection rates soaring across the country and the U.S. death toll topping 272,000.
However, Democrats are confident they’ll get leverage for another round of stimulus once President-elect Joe Biden takes office on Jan. 20.
Biden offered support Wednesday evening for Congress passing the scaled-down package right away, saying it will provide “immediate help for a lot of things.”
But he also affirmed he’ll push for another relief package as soon as he’s inaugurated.
“Any package passed in this so-called lame duck session between now and January 21, at best, is only going to be a down payment,” he told reporters.
McConnell, whose consent is ultimately required for any legislation to become law, did not say Wednesday whether he backed the $906 billion blueprint.
Even if the House and the Senate reaches a stimulus agreement, President Trump remains a wild card.
He has refused to admit that he lost the election to Biden and may be hard pressed to sign off on any bill that could give the Democrat a running start to his presidency.
At the same time, Congress must approve a slate of spending bills to keep the government from shutting down on Dec. 11 — and Trump has thrown wrenches into that process by threatening to veto the measures if they don’t contain a provision meant to punish Twitter for fact-checking some of his tweets.
Still, Trump has sporadically called on Congress to get to work on a stimulus, without offering much in the realm of specifics.
“Congress must now do a Covid Relief Bill,” Trump tweeted Nov. 14. “Make it big and focused. Get it done!”
