Senate GOP pushes for trillion dollar coronavirus deal by end of day – POLITICO

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“I tasked these bipartisan teams to reach agreement by the end of the day today, tonight,” McConnell said. “We’ll need Saturday to be drafting what we’ve agreed to … We’ll need tomorrow for Legislative Counsel to draft the agreement. And as [Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin] has indicated, it is important for us to be on the Senate floor and pass the measure by Monday.”

The four task forces — which covered distressed industries, small business, financial assistance to individual Americans and health care — took a “pause” in the middle of Friday afternoon while Republicans huddled for a policy lunch and Senate aides rushed to put the proposals into writing.

The high-level talks come a day after Senate Republicans introduced their $1 trillion stimulus package to save the U.S. economy by assisting individuals, small businesses and industries that have been hit hard by the pandemic.

But Senate Democrats have already raised concerns with the GOP proposal, saying it benefits businesses and industries while not doing enough for working people.

“We need to work together quickly and do something big and bold that helps the American people,” said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), before the start of the meeting. “Sen. McConnell’s bill is not pro worker at all, it puts corporations ahead of people.”

A Senior democratic aide said that “Republicans are now balking at doing a state stabilization fund to address revenue shortfalls states are experiencing [because] of COV-19,” a measure Schumer and Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) are pushing.

Senior Democratic aides, however, said privately that they believe that McConnell’s Monday deadline is still feasible.

Schumer, who spoke to President Donald Trump Friday morning, asked the president to use the Defense Production Act for more medical equipment, including ventilators, according to Schumer’s spokesperson.

After speaking with Schumer, Trump said he had an “extremely good” conversation with the minority leader and expressed optimism about the “Phase 3” stimulus deal.

“We were working on various elements of the deal, and the Democrats are very much wanting something to happen, and the Republicans likewise are very much wanting something to happen. And I think it will,” Trump said at a daily press briefing of the White House coronavirus task force. He didn’t address the Defense Production Act.

Trump added that he also spoke at length with McConnell as well. Abd Schumer and Speaker Nancy Pelosi spoke also by phone with Mnuchin on Friday afternoon to discuss the state of play on the “Phase 3” package.

Among the key provisions of the Senate GOP package is a plan to provide direct cash payments to individuals of up to $1,200 and families of up to $2,400, based on income. In addition to direct cash payments, the GOP stimulus plan gives small businesses $300 billion in federally guaranteed loans and $200 billion for loans for industries, including airlines.

The structure of the direct payments has emerged as a concern for some Republican members. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) has panned the idea of direct cash payments broadly, while Sens. Josh Hawley (R-Mo) and Mitt Romney (R-Utah) are calling for the package to be fixed, after expressing concern that its structure doesn’t sufficiently benefit lower income Americans. Hawley introduced an amendment Friday to help resolve the issue.

“Our goal is to create an income stream not just a one-time payment,” Graham said on Thursday. “The problem with direct cash is you’re giving it to the people who have got their salary, they don’t need extra money. There are people without money that need money.”

Senate Republican aides and White House officials are signaling they’re open to making changes during negotiations.

But Republican leaders also brought in Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia to counter that argument. Scalia has argued in the closed-door sessions that some states unemployment insurance systems aren’t capable of handling both an expected tidal wave of new unemployment filings by Americans who just lost their jobs while at the same time gearing up to send out millions of checks.

“The administration has expressed, based on some feedback their getting from states, that that would take a very long time,” said Senate Majority Whip John Thune (R-S.C.). “Again, we’re trying to do something that’s quick and gets an infusion of cash out there in a hurry, and the direct payments do that.”

There are also objections being raised to some of the industry specific bailout, as well as numerous business-related tax cuts offered by Senate Republicans. Democrats are objecting that the GOP bill is not “worker friendly.” And Trump himself said he wanted to make sure their was language in the package preventing corporations from using federal aid for stock buybacks.

“We have some fundamental disagreements on some of the liquidity provisions,” said a Republican senator who spoke on the condition of anonymity. We’re trying to help not because we’re interested in helping business … as much as we’re just trying to help keep the economy moving and keep people employed.”

Meanwhile, Democrats are calling for expanded unemployment insurance and paid leave, as well as more assistance for hospitals.

White House Legislative Affairs Director Eric Ueland reiterated that the administration wants to see lawmakers pass the package by Monday.

“Hopefully we’ll be done in a relatively quick fashion,” Ueland told reporters Friday, adding the administration is “looking for swift action, swift conversation, swift resolution and hopefully swift accomplishment by Congress on behalf of the American people.”

Source Article from https://www.politico.com/news/2020/03/20/senate-coronavirus-emergency-stimulus-deal-friday-138788

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