The Senate will be in session next week as negotiations continue between House Democrats and the Trump administration on an economic stimulus package to combat the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.
Both chambers were originally scheduled to be in recess next week. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., announced the cancellation of his chamber’s planned recess next week via Twitter. The House has not yet announced whether it will also diverge from that plan.
[Trump announces coronavirus actions as Democrats prep stimulus]
The news came as Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Speaker Nancy Pelosi continued to work on possible changes to House Democrats’ latest coronavirus response package to address GOP concerns, with Pelosi and top Republicans saying it was still possible the two chambers could come together on a bill quickly.
President Donald Trump as well as House and Senate Republican leaders criticized the bill (HR 6201) as unworkable in its current form, in comments that suggested the potential for protracted negotiations.
Pelosi, D-Calif., said talks with Mnuchin had produced some “very reasonable” suggestions for changes to the bill. And Trump appeared to back off his insistence on an immediate, massive payroll tax cut that Democrats oppose and Republicans have been cool to, which could ease the path for a quick deal.
[Coronavirus spread will likely get worse, ‘serious mitigation’ is necessary, health officials say]
“That won’t come immediately because that’s a stronger measure, but we are looking to do that and I think at the right time Congress will probably go along with it,” Trump said Thursday in remarks to reporters at the top of a meeting with Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar.
The Democrat-led measure, aimed at limiting the economic damage from the COVID-19 virus, would offer paid sick leave for workers, expanded food assistance, extended unemployment insurance, free coverage of coronavirus testing and increased federal funding for state and territorial Medicaid costs, among other things.
But Republicans said the bill would require too much bureaucracy and impose costs on businesses that could further damage the economy.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said the bill “comes up short” on several fronts. He said the Social Security Administration would need six months to set up the proposed paid sick leave program, “so it won’t work in time” for those who need immediate help.
He also faulted the measure for requiring all businesses to offer “permanent” paid sick leave even when there isn’t any public health emergency. And he expressed concern about passing a temporary 8 percent increase in federal Medicaid funding to states without knowing what it would cost.
“These are such big items,” McCarthy said. “I just do not believe it would be smart on our part to rush that through.”
Trump said he won’t support the Democrats’ bill, arguing that their approach was “not a good way for them to get some of the goodies they’ve been talking about for 25 years.”
But McCarthy joined the Trump administration in saying that he wanted to work with Democrats on a compromise measure. “I think we can get this done in 24 or 48 hours,” he told reporters at a news conference.
Pelosi said she was willing to consider changes, but would resist protracted negotiations that could take days to conclude. “We don’t need 48 hours,” she told reporters. “We just need to make a decision to help families right now.”
Pelosi said there will likely be other legislation down the road so Congress needs to act now on measures where there is agreement and revisit what went wrong in the response another time. “Save it for another day,” she said.
Drew Hammill, Pelosi’s deputy chief of staff, said via Twitter his boss had spoken with Mnuchin three times on Thursday prior to 11:30 a.m.
Trump added that he was still considering declaring an emergency that would free up more than $40 billion in disaster relief funds for affected areas, but that no final decision had been made.
“Might be some of the more minor things at this point,” Trump said of executive actions he could take to ease the economic burden of COVID-19.
‘Serious concerns’
A senior administration official said the White House had “serious concerns” with the House bill, including the fact that coverage reimbursements don’t reference the so-called Hyde amendment, which prevents the use of federal funds to pay for abortions. The administration also doesn’t like the bill’s 8 percentage-point increase in Medicaid matching funds.
Rep. Rob Woodall, R-Ga., said Republicans were concerned about the bill’s creation of an apparent new paid leave entitlement by requiring employers to let workers accrue an extra seven days of leave on top of 14 days of immediate paid time off in the event of “any public health emergency,” not limited to the current coronavirus pandemic.
A White House official said the Trump administration supports many of the concepts in the House Democrats’ bill, but not their implementing methods.
“The White House does not support much of what the speaker has proposed as currently drafted, but we do support many of the policies reflected in her draft, and are asking that they continue to work with us to find a bipartisan, bicameral agreement,” the official said.
Democrats have already agreed to make some changes to the bill, outlined in a managers’ amendment submitted by House Appropriations Chairwoman Nita M. Lowey, D-N.Y. The changes would clarify that reimbursements for uninsured COVID-19 testing at diagnostic laboratories can’t cover individuals receiving other testing assistance in the bill, and that Medicaid coverage only applies to COVID-19 tests, as well as tighten exemptions from work search and other state unemployment assistance rules.
‘Probably a good thing’
Sitting alone in the Rules Committee hearing room after the panel recessed, Chairman Jim McGovern, D-Mass., said he didn’t know when they might reconvene. He said “that’s probably a good thing,” since it indicates that Pelosi and Mnuchin are talking.
Earlier in the hearing, Rep. Ed Perlmutter, D-Colo., suggested that the bill could be amended in the Senate with changes acceptable to both sides and the House could take it up next week by unanimous consent if necessary.
Rep. Joseph D. Morelle, D-N.Y., said during the initial Rules meeting that while the quick process hasn’t been ideal, it was important to act now because Senate Republicans haven’t offered an alternative. “Given the state of play as we find it, which is little coming from the other side of the building, I think it’s important that we demonstrated leadership,” he said.
Speaking on the Senate floor Thursday morning, McConnell criticized the House bill.
“The speaker’s proposal would stand up a needless thicket of new bureaucracy,” he said. “As currently drafted, their proposal appears to impose permanent unfunded mandates on businesses that could cause massive job losses and put thousands of small businesses at risk.”
McConnell said GOP senators are likely to ask for quick consideration of bills today that could help mitigate the impacts of COVID-19. He said the chamber could pass “smaller, noncontroversial pieces of legislation right away that would bolster particular aspects of the fight against coronavirus.”
In a later tweet, McConnell said “we do not need to choose between Speaker Pelosi’s first draft and doing nothing.”
David Lerman, Jennifer Shutt, Lindsey McPherson and Niels Lesniewski contributed to this report.
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