Speaking to her caucus on Thursday evening, Pelosi warned of the tough questions they would face back home if they voted down billions in local aid.
“If you vote against this and all this funding for your state, then you have to go home and defend it. And if you can defend that no vote, then you’re a better politician than me,” Pelosi told her members on a caucus call Thursday evening, according to multiple people on the call.
At least one moderate Democrat, Rep. Kendra Horn (D-Okla.), has said she’ll oppose the package, dismissing it as a “messaging bill” with no GOP support. More than a half-dozen others have said they are leaning against the bill, citing the overall cost of the bill as well as provisions to provide undocumented immigrants with some aid or to repeal the cap on state and local tax deductions.
Other Democrats are raising alarm bells over a pension provision that is detested by some key labor groups. The package includes an existing bill that some labor advocates complain would weaken the multi-employer pension system.
Key liberal Democrats are also withholding support for now and are even mulling a floor strategy to block consideration of the package by opposing an initial procedural vote.
Reps. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) and Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), the chairs of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, had unsuccessfully lobbied Pelosi to delay consideration of the bill until next week. They spent much of Thursday surveying their roughly 100 members about how to proceed, though people familiar with the discussions say it’s unlikely the caucus would seek to upend the legislation completely.
Rep. Ro Khanna, a member of CPC leadership, said Thursday the group has not yet settled on a plan. Asked whether progressives would be willing to vote against the bill or the rule to govern debate, Khanna said: “I’m hoping it won’t come to that.”
The California Democrat said he’s still reviewing Pelosi’s coronavirus package, but acknowledged it would be difficult to vote against nearly $1 trillion in cash for state and local governments that could otherwise be forced to cut public services.
“These things have all been difficult choices, because our states and counties so desperately need the trillion dollars, but there are parts of it that are problematic,” Khanna told reporters.
Progressives are demanding more money for safety net programs, including Jayapal’s signature proposal to stave off unemployment by letting the federal government cover payroll for struggling companies for at least three months. Others wanted Democrats to expand health benefits under Medicare and the Affordable Care Act, rather than shore up the costly and unpopular temporary workplace insurance program, COBRA.
Still, most House Democrats have touted Pelosi’s vast proposal to deliver $3 trillion to governments, businesses and individuals facing financial hardships because of the coronavirus pandemic. Besides the money for state and local governments, it would deliver another round of cash payments to millions of Americans, offer rent and mortgage relief and extend the duration of unemployment benefits.
The Democratic bill would also relieve some student debt, though lawmakers significantly scaled back the provision on Thursday. A new version of the bill would forgive debt only for borrowers who were “economically distressed” at the onset of the pandemic; the initial version would have applied to all of the nation’s more than 45 million student loan borrowers, regardless of financial circumstances.
Democrats also added language to prevent registered lobbyists from accessing small business loans during the pandemic — a loophole that drew complaints from moderates who feared it would be turned into a GOP attack ad.
Source Article from https://www.politico.com/news/2020/05/14/nancy-pelosi-coronavirus-relief-plan-259502
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