WASHINGTON _ A Senate pro forma meeting came and went Monday without any movement on a spending package needed to shore up funding for small-business loans that could run dry by the end of the week.
Neither Republicans nor Democrats tried to bring up their competing legislation during the one-minute session, as they did last Thursday. Instead, lawmakers reserved their frustration for prepared statements and television appearances.
After a weekend with little movement, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., released a joint statement calling on Republicans to begin negotiations.
"We have real problems facing this country, and it's time for the Republicans to quit the political posturing by proposing bills they know will not pass either chamber and get serious and work with us towards a solution," they said.
The Trump administration requested an additional $251 billion for the Small Business administration's so-called Paycheck Protection Program last week. The new program, designed to provide forgivable loans to businesses struggling due to the COVID-19 pandemic, proved immensely popular in its first few days. It could run out of funding by the end of this week, according to White House National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., on Saturday said Democrats should let the small-business loan funds pass now and save other matters for subsequent aid packages.
"We hope our Democratic colleagues familiarize themselves with the facts and the data before the program runs dry," they said.
Democrats want to include structural changes to the program to ensure that women- and minority-owned businesses could access the funding as well as those in rural and underserved areas that don't have relationships with larger, more established banks.
Pelosi and Schumer also called for the bill to include an additional $100 billion for hospitals and other health care facilities as well as $150 billion for state and local governments. They also want a 15% increase to the maximum monthly food stamp benefits for low-income individuals and families, and more money for COVID-19 testing and protective gear for health care workers.
On Monday, Pelosi and Schumer called for the legislation to require more data collection to determine which communities are being disproportionately impacted by the virus, following reports that minority communities were bearing the brunt of the outbreak.
"The collection and publication of demographic data are also desperately needed, so that we can accurately determine the level of impact on under-served communities and communities of color and direct needed resources to them immediately," they wrote.
Speaking on C-SPAN Monday, House Appropriations Chairwoman Nita M. Lowey said the lack of national, rapid testing for the virus "infuriates" her and continues to be an issue that lawmakers need to address.
The New York Democrat also called on Republicans to work with Democrats to pass the next relief bill.
"These are common sense policies that everyone, Democrats and Republicans, can get behind," she said. "I hope that Republicans will come to their senses and move this package at once."
Lowey said she wasn't surprised about the huge demand for Paycheck Protection Program funding, citing what she's seen in her own district in the suburbs north of New York City. "The stores are closed, everything is locked up," she said.
Nonetheless, Republicans need to come to the table and negotiate in order to keep small-business funds flowing, Lowey said.
"We have to put politics aside, do what's necessary, and pass anything that goes through the Senate with unanimous consent in the House, because no one can get back to Washington," she said.
Lowey added that she doesn't believe the House will reconvene next week: "I certainly do not think so. I don't think it's possible."
