Washington – Democratic leaders in Congress on Monday introduced a joint budget resolution that begins the process of approving President Biden’s comprehensive coronavirus relief plan without Republican support, announcing the move just before a group of 10 Republican senators are in place. ready to meet with the president of the White House on his own framework.
The budget resolution presented by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is the first step in the budget reconciliation process, which would allow Congress to quickly approve the 1.9 coronavirus package. trillion dollars from Biden with a simple majority. The resolution contains conciliation instructions that set out which congressional committees are responsible for drafting legislation and how much they can spend. Once the House and Senate pass resolutions, committees can begin work on the conciliation bill.
“Congress has a responsibility to quickly provide immediate comprehensive relief to the American people injured by COVID-19,” Schumer and Pelosi said in a statement. “The cost of inaction is high and growing and now is the time for decisive action.”
The instructions indicate that the relevant panels of the House and Senate develop a language that addresses several of the key provisions of the Biden plan, including Direct payments of $ 1,400 to individuals and an extension of the unemployment insurance program through September with a $ 400 weekly improvement. The legislation would also include $ 350 billion for state and local governments, funding to reopen schools, and more money for vaccines, testing, and public health programs. The budget resolution calls for federal help to support the use of the Defense Production Act to boost the manufacture of supplies needed to fight coronavirus, as well as money for small businesses.
Absent from a summary provided by Democrats is a provision that raises the federal minimum wage to $ 15 per hour, which was in Mr. Biden’s package but criticized by Republicans.
“The only thing we cannot accept is a package too small or too narrow to get our country out of this emergency,” Schumer said in statements in the Senate chamber. “We cannot repeat the mistake of 2009 and we must act very soon to get this help to those who need it so desperately.”
The New York Democrat said Republican contributions are “welcome.”
“The COVID relief should also be the work of Democrats and Republicans,” Schumer said.
The approval of an emergency aid plan is Mr. Biden’s first legislative priority, as the coronavirus pandemic continues to wreak havoc on the U.S. economy. While the president has stressed that he wants to support bipartisanship for a coronavirus package, Republican senators have rejected the $ 1.9 trillion cost of the Biden plan.
On Sunday, a group of ten Republicans sent a letter to the president asking them to meet and discuss their own framework, which they said would have the support of Democrats and Republicans. The plan is $ 618 billion significantly smaller than that of Biden and does not include money for state and local governments, which has been a turning point in previous negotiations on relief measures.
Nine of the Republicans met with Mr. Biden for two hours Monday. Senator Susan Collins, the group’s leader, called the meeting “productive,” saying she believed there was still hope for a bipartisan agreement.
The White House, however, said in a reading of the meeting that Biden “will not settle for a package that does not meet the moment.”