With government funding depleted Friday night, lawmakers are due to launch a massive $ 1.4 trillion package as early as Tuesday if they have any chance of going through Congress and preventing agencies from stopping the head of week.
That means Americans could know on Tuesday if Capitol Hill leaders have agreed to provide desperately needed help, as congressional leaders want to add Covid-19 provisions to the bus spending package.
Or struggling Americans could be disappointed again if there is no agreement and are forced to wait even longer while lawmakers continue to haggle.
It is virtually obvious to everyone in Washington that there is an agreement within reach that includes several key provisions: an extension of unemployment benefits, money for vaccine distribution, funds for schools, small business loans, among others. a handful of other issues.
But Congress leaders have yet to sign that proposal.
“It’s time to do it,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Monday.
Democrats agree with the sentiment.
“This week, the Senate is back with very little time to end important issues,” said Chuck Schumer, the Senate’s minority leader.
But can they get there?
Lawmakers who plan to introduce the government funding bill
Appropriators in the House and Senate are scheduled to file a $ 1.4 trillion spending bill on Tuesday to fund federal agencies by the end of September 2021, which leaves shortly before Friday’s deadline for it is expected to be a massive package to pass both chambers.
If lawmakers manage to pull colossal legislation out the door on Tuesday, it will be as important as their funding provisions whether or not it includes pandemic relief. Doing so would indicate that an agreement has been reached with congressional leaders and that votes can be passed in the House and Senate later in the week to reach the president’s office. (They would still need the cooperation of all senators to pass the bill quickly).
If a government funding bill is released without pandemic relief, this would pose serious problems for the effort to pass Covid aid before Congress stops on vacation and could signal the imminent disappearance of the last effort to reach a stimulus agreement.
There is also another scenario: The deadlines imposed by themselves have a way of escaping Congress and it is always possible that lawmakers will not publish a massive funding deal on Tuesday despite their intention. If that happens, it could mean that talks on government stimulus and spending are breaking down and lawmakers may be forced to point the issue at a later date, moving away from a pandemic stimulus deal during the session of the Congress of Lightning Ducks and spending a brief time. a long-term financing plan rather than a much broader global spending agreement.
“The next few days will produce one of two results,” McConnell said. “Either 100 senators will be here shaking their heads, dismissing guilt and offering excuses why we haven’t been able to make a law yet, or we’ll stay on vacation because we’ve sent a big dose of relief to people who need it.” .
Democrats may be forced to abandon state and local aid
On Monday there were clear signs that Democrats could be forced to abandon aid of at least $ 160 billion in aid to states and cities with cash problems to reach a bipartisan agreement on some aid provisions.
Pelosi and Schumer refused to say help was a red line for them in the conversations. And during a 22-minute phone call Monday evening, the speaker told Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin that the Republican Party’s insistence on including judicial protections for businesses and other entities “remains an obstacle” to achieving a agreement on state and local aid, as Republicans have demanded that the two be linked.
The decision to split the deal points to how difficult it would be to win a wider purchase for this package, and Republicans have insisted they will only support state and local aid if it joins civil liability protections, an action which the Democrats have resisted.
Two senior Democratic sources briefed on the talks told CNN that state and local aid now seems unlikely to turn it into a pandemic relief package.
If aid is eventually abandoned from the plan, it would amount to a major grant from Democrats, who had advanced about $ 1 trillion to help states and cities as part of a more than $ 3 trillion plan it approved. the House in May and The Senate never raised it. Democrats had argued that money was paramount to ensuring that workers providing vital services (ranging from first aid to health care workers) could continue to talk about work.
What is in the bipartisan plan
If Democrats reject their demand for state and local aid, the consensus bill tabled Monday by the bipartisan coalition that ignores the issue, as well as civil liability protections, could serve as a starting point for what could be done. agree more broadly. Covid relief.
According to a summary released Monday, the bill would provide $ 300 billion for small business administration and funds that would give small businesses the opportunity to benefit from another loan through the PPP with certain eligibility restrictions.
There would be $ 2.58 million for the distribution and infrastructure of CDC vaccines and an extension of pandemic unemployment insurance programs for 16 weeks along with a $ 300 weekly extension of federal supplemental insurance benefits.
Senate Whip John Thune, a South Dakota Republican, on Monday showed optimism about the bipartisan package, saying, “I think in the end it’s heading in the right direction.”