WASHINGTON _ Senators left Washington on Thursday afternoon amid ongoing disputes between congressional leaders and the Trump administration over a pricey coronavirus relief package that neither party wants to leave hanging until after Labor Day.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer will meet again Thursday at 5 p.m. with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows as they try to make demonstrable progress before the end of the week.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he's staying in town, but anyone choosing to head home would have 24 hours' notice before floor votes. As of Thursday afternoon, the two parties were still sniping at each other it and wasn't clear they'd narrowed any of the major gaps on big-ticket items like unemployment insurance and state and local government aid.
President Donald Trump, frustrated with the pace of talks, told reporters at Joint Base Andrews that although a deal was still possible, he's prepared to announce executive actions "probably tomorrow afternoon" or on Saturday morning.
He tweeted that the actions under consideration would involve a potential payroll tax holiday, a moratorium on tenant evictions, relief from student loan obligations and renewed unemployment benefits to replace the extra weekly $600 that lapsed last week.
The White House has already unilaterally acted in the case of the eviction moratorium from the March aid package. Those protections for renters in federally backed housing technically lapsed late last month but were extended through Aug. 31. Also in March, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos temporarily set interest rates on federal student loans at 0% and gave student borrowers the option to suspend payments.
The legal authority for potential moves to cut payroll taxes and renew emergency unemployment benefits is less clear. Tax experts say the White House couldn't unilaterally declare a payroll tax holiday, let alone backfill the lost Social Security trust fund revenue without an act of Congress. And repurposing unspent funds for unemployment insurance could run afoul of appropriations law provisions preventing funds transfers without congressional approval, though the administration's diversion of military funds for the border wall hinges on specific legal authorities that are still being litigated.
White House Deputy Press Secretary Judd Deere wouldn't go into detail about what kinds of legal means the administration might use to extend relief. "A legislative solution is the priority, but negotiations are a two-way street and Democrats are unfortunately playing politics, which is why President Trump is fully prepared to use his executive authority to help those who continue to be impacted by this virus from China," Deere said.
Senate Finance Chairman Charles E. Grassley, R-Iowa, said he doesn't believe Trump will actually go through with unilateral actions.
"I assume he's contemplating it to send a signal that he's sick and tired that Democrats aren't negotiating. I doubt if he's serious about doing it," Grassley said. He declined to say whether Trump has the legal authority to move money from other accounts to programs such as unemployment insurance.
The White House may be using the threat of executive action as a negotiating tactic. But Pelosi and Schumer didn't seem fazed, using a joint news conference to try to put pressure on their GOP counterparts.
"We have to move more quickly because the light at the end of the tunnel might be the freight train of the virus coming at us," Pelosi said while declining to put a timeline on an agreement.
Pelosi and Schumer challenged how much Trump could do with an executive order.
"I don't think they know what they're talking about," Pelosi said. "The one thing the president can do is to extend the moratorium (on evictions), and that would be a good thing if there's money to go with it. And that's what we keep telling them."
Democrats have been critical of suggestions from Meadows and Mnuchin that major issues should be worked out before the weekend begins.
Many of the senators preparing to leave for their home states on Thursday were optimistic for an agreement in the coming days.
"If I had to guess, I think I'd guess we have an agreement by the end of this week and something to vote on by the middle of next week. But I'd sure hate to bet anything I couldn't afford to lose on that," said Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo.
Republican senators are supposed to get updates on the talks every weekday around 5 p.m., according to Utah Sen. Mitt Romney.
Florida GOP Sen. Marco Rubio, one of the architects of the Paycheck Protection Program that provides forgivable small-business loans, was concerned that if an agreement on extending that program isn't reached soon, there could be another spike in layoffs.
"As they run out of their eight weeks of payroll cash, they may not have enough to keep their folks around, and you may start to see layoffs and unemployment as a result of it if we don't do a PPP Two," Rubio said. "If they believe that one is on the way, they might hold the line for a couple more weeks. But if they believe there's no chance of another one, I think you're more certain to see small-business layoffs start."
Senate Appropriations Chairman Richard C. Shelby, R-Ala., summed up the situation by saying, "There's optimism, and then there's pessimism."
