WASHINGTON (AP) – President Joe Biden Introduces Republican Alternative to $ 1.9 Billion COVID Rescue Plan as insufficient as Senate Democrats pushed through, voting to initiate a process that could approve its broad bailout package for themselves, if Republicans refuse to support it.
Biden and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen joined Democratic senators Tuesday for a private virtual meeting, both declaring a $ 618 billion offer from Republicans it was too small. They urged great swift action to curb the coronavirus pandemic crisis and its economic consequences.
Biden is likely to reiterate that message on Wednesday as he intensifies his public engagements with lawmakers on the issue. The White House announced that Biden would discuss the rescue plan by phone with House Democrats, followed by an Oval Office meeting with Democratic senators.
As the White House seeks a bipartisan bill, Democrats organized their ever-slim majority in the Senate, voting between 50 and 49, to begin a lengthy process to pass Biden’s bill with or without the support of the Biden. GOP. The goal is for approval of the COVID-19 relief to be scheduled for March, when the extra unemployment benefit and other pandemic aid expires.
“President Biden spoke of the need for Congress to respond boldly and quickly,” said Chuck Schumer, leader of the Senate majority after the noon meeting. “If we made such a small package, we would be embroiled in the COVID crisis for years.”
Democrat rapid action on Capitol Hill highlights the urgency of giving Biden the highest legislative priority, even as private talks between Republicans and the White House, as well as with centrist Democrats, move forward on possible changes to the package to gain broader bipartisan support.
Biden framed his views during the virtual lunch meeting with Democrats talking about the need not to forget working-class and middle-class families, including those like nurses and pipefitters who earn $ 150,000 for a family of four people, who tense up during the crisis. person granted anonymity to discuss the private call.
The night before, Biden met with 10 Republican senators presenting their $ 618 billion alternative and let them know it was insufficient to meet the needs of the country. The president made it clear he will not delay aid in hopes of gaining Republican Party support.
While no compromise was reached during Monday’s final session, White House talks with Republicans are underway in private.
The result will test the new president who is striving to unify the country but faces rising COVID-19 deaths and a stubbornly high number of unemployed, with political risks for all parties. Vaccine distribution, $ 1,400 direct payments to households, reopening of the school, and commercial aid are online.
Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell criticized Democrats for moving forward on their own. He said he had spoken with Biden before his meeting with the 10 Republican Party senators.
“They’ve chosen a totally partisan path,” McConnell said. “That’s unfortunate.”
The two sides are very separate, with the Republican group of ten senators focused primarily on the health care crisis and $ 1,000 less direct aid to Americans than the $ 1,400 payments proposed by Biden, while the president leads Democrats to to a broader bailout plan to prop up homes, local governments and a partially closed economy.
At the White House, press secretary Jen Psaki reiterated Biden’s view that the risk is not to make a package too big, but to provide too little help. He said the president expected Republican party ideas to be presented and did not stop Republicans from participating in the process.
“We need to make sure people get the relief they need,” he said.
White House officials have previously cited the U.S. Chamber of Commerce as evidence of broad support for its plan, but the nation’s leading business group issued a letter Tuesday urging a bipartisan compromise.
“There should be a common ground for a bipartisan proposal that can become law,” Neil Bradley, executive vice president and chief policy officer, said in an interview.
The cornerstone of the GOP plan is $ 160 billion for the care response: vaccine distribution, a “massive expansion” of testing, protective equipment, and funding for rural hospitals, similar to what Biden has proposed..
But from there, the two plans diverge drastically. Biden is proposing $ 170 billion for schools, compared to the $ 20 billion in the Republican plan. Republicans wouldn’t give a damn about the states either, the money Democrats argue is just as important, with $ 350 billion in Biden’s plan to keep police, firefighters and other workers in the workplace.
GOP $ 1,000 direct payments would go to fewer households, people earning up to $ 40,000 a year, or $ 80,000 to couples. That’s less than Biden’s proposal of $ 1,400 in direct payments at higher income levels, up to $ 300,000 for some households.
Republicans are offering $ 40 billion in commercial aid from the Payment Check Protection Program. But democratic priorities, such as the gradual raising of the federal minimum wage, have disappeared at $ 15 per hour.
According to Schumer, Biden told Democratic senators he had informed Republicans “he is willing to make some changes.”
But both Biden and Yellen recalled lessons from the government’s response to the 2009 financial crisis, which some have said were then inadequate as conditions worsened. Biden said he told Republicans his offer was “too small,” Schumer said.
Winning the support of ten Republicans would be significant, which could give Biden the necessary votes in the Senate 50-50 up to the 60-vote threshold normally required to advance legislation. Vice President Kamala Harris is the tiebreaker.
Cautious Democrats pushed ahead with Tuesday’s vote, unwilling to devote too much time to resorting to Republican Party support that may not materialize or may lead to a package that is too small.
Procedural steps are the basis for eventual approval as part of the budget conciliation process that would allow the bill to be passed with a 51-majority majority in the Senate, instead of the 60 votes normally needed.
Tuesday’s vote opens 50 hours of debate on a budget resolution, with amendment votes scheduled for later this week. The House is ready to begin a similar process.
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Associated Press writers Alan Fram, Jonathan Lemire, Alexandra Jaffe, Darlene Superville and Aamer Madhani contributed to this report.