WASHINGTON (AP) – President Joe Biden will meet Monday with a group of 10 Republican senators who have proposed $ 618 billion in aid for coronavirus, about a third of the $ 1.9 trillion he seeks while congressional Democrats are willing to move forward without Republican Party support.
The Republican group’s proposal focuses on the health effects of the pandemic rather than its economic weight, taking advantage of the bipartisan urgency to bolster the country’s vaccine distribution and greatly expand virus testing with $ 160 billion in aid. Their $ 1,000 direct payments would be reduced to fewer households than the $ 1,400 proposed by Biden, and would avoid costly assistance to states and cities that Democrats argue are just as important.
Democratic priorities are behind us, such as the gradual raising of the federal minimum wage to $ 15 an hour.
The White House’s participation in high-profile bipartisan talks is sure to appeal to Biden’s desire to unify the nation. But it can slow the Democrats ’rush to launch their broader budget resolutions for House and Senate votes as soon as the groundwork is laid for the passage of a COVID relief bill with its new majority in Congress.
The aim is for COVID to pass through March, when the extra unemployment benefit and other pandemic aid expire.
“We recognize your calls for unity and want to work in good faith with your Administration to address the health, economic and social challenges of the COVID crisis,” the ten GOP senators wrote in Biden. “We share many of your priorities.”
The opening of the coalition of 10 Republican Party senators, mostly centrists, is an attempt to show that at least some of the Republican ranks want to work with the new Biden administration, rather than simply function as a minority opposition in Congress. . But Democrats are wary of using too much time to party with Republican Party support that may not materialize or deliver a package too scarce as they believe happened during the 2009 recovery.
Accelerated talks occurred when the Congressional Budget Office made mixed economic forecasts Monday with strong growth forecast at an annual rate of 4.5%, but employment rates will not return to pre-pandemic levels for several years.
“We all want bipartisanship,” Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Said Sunday. “But right now this country is facing an unprecedented set of crises. … We must act and we must act now.”
An invitation to Republican Party senators to meet at the White House came hours after lawmakers sent a letter to Biden on Sunday urging him to negotiate instead of trying to take advantage of his relief package solely in Democratic votes.
The cornerstone of the GOP plan is $ 160 billion for the healthcare response: vaccine distribution, a “massive expansion” of testing, protective equipment and funds for rural hospitals, according to a draft.
Other elements of the package are similar, but in much smaller amounts, with $ 20 billion to reopen schools and $ 40 billion for commercial aid from the Check Payment Protection Program.
Under the Republican Party’s proposal, direct payments of $ 1,000 would go to people earning up to $ 40,000 a year, or $ 80,000 for couples. The proposal would begin to phase out the benefit, with no payments for people earning more than $ 50,000 or $ 100,000 for couples. That’s less than Biden’s $ 1,400 direct payments proposal at higher revenue levels.
With the Biden plan, direct payments would be phased out at higher income levels and families with incomes of up to $ 300,000 could receive some incentive money.
The meeting that will host Biden would represent the president’s largest public participation in negotiations for the next round of virus relief.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Sunday that while Biden wants “a full exchange of views,” the president remains in favor of moving forward with the larger relief package.
“With the virus posing a serious threat to the country and economic conditions being terrible for so many, the need to act is urgent and the scale of what needs to be done is large,” Psaki said.
Winning the support of ten Republicans would be significant for Biden in the 50-50 Senate, where Vice President Kamala Harris is the tiebreaker. If all Democrats supported a possible compromise bill, the legislation would reach the 60-vote threshold needed to overcome possible blocking efforts and pass under regular Senate procedures.
The request for Biden to give more time to bipartisan negotiations comes when the president has shown signs of impatience as the more liberal wing of his party considers passing the relief package through a process known as budget reconciliation. This would allow the bill to be passed by a 51-vote majority in the Senate, instead of the 60 votes normally needed to move forward.
“If you can’t find a bipartisan compromise with COVID-19, I don’t know where you can find it,” said Ohio Sen. Rob Portman, who also signed the letter.
But even as Biden extended the invitation to Republican lawmakers, Psaki said $ 1,400 in relief control was needed, substantial funding for reopening schools, helping small businesses and hurting families. and much more.
“As the leading economists have said, the danger now is not to do too much. It’s doing too little, ”Psaki said.
Biden also spoke Sunday with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer facing pressure from more liberal Democratic members to move forward with or without Biden legislation. Republican support.
Other Republican senators invited to meet with Biden are Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Mitt Romney of Utah, Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, Todd Young of Indiana, Jerry Moran of Kansas, Mike Rounds of South Dakota and Thom Tillis of North Carolina.
Brian Deese, the White House chief economic adviser who led the administration’s outreach to Congress, indicated that the White House could be open to negotiating to further limit who would receive stimulus controls.
“It’s definitely a place where we’re willing to sit and think, are there ways to make the whole package more effective?” Deese said.
As a candidate, Biden said his decades in the Senate and his eight years as Barack Obama’s vice president give him credibility as a negotiator and will help him reach Republicans and Democrats to consensus on the most important issues facing the country. .
But less than two weeks into his presidency, Biden has shown frustration with the pace of negotiations at a time when the economy is showing more evidence of pandemic attrition. Last week, 847,000 Americans applied for unemployment benefits, a sign that layoffs remain high as the coronavirus pandemic continues to rage.