WASHINGTON (NewsNation Now) — President Joe Biden is set to meet Monday with a group of 10 Republican senators who have proposed spending about one-third of the $1.9 trillion he is seeking in coronavirus aid.
The meeting comes as congressional Democrats are poised to move ahead without Republican support. Biden invited the group to the White House hours after the lawmakers sent a letter Sunday, urging the president to negotiate rather than try to push through his relief package with only Democratic votes.
The House and Senate are on track to vote as soon as this week on a budget resolution, which would lay the groundwork for passing an aid package under rules requiring only a simple majority vote in the closely divided Senate.
The goal is for passage by March, when extra unemployment assistance and other pandemic aid expires. The meeting to be hosted by Biden would amount to the most public involvement for the president in the negotiations for the next round of virus relief. Democratic and Republican lawmakers are far apart in their proposals for assistance.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Sunday that Biden had spoken with the leader of the group, Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine. Though Biden wants “a full exchange of views,” Psaki reiterated that the president remains in favor of moving forward with a far-reaching relief package.
“With the virus posing a grave threat to the country, and economic conditions grim for so many, the need for action is urgent, and the scale of what must be done is large,” Psaki said.
In addition to Collins, the other GOP senators invited to meet with Biden are Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Mitt Romney of Utah, Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, Todd Young of Indiana, Jerry Moran of Kansas, Rob Portman of Ohio, Mike Rounds of South Dakota, and Thom Tillis of North Carolina.
“It’s an exchange of ideas,” Psaki said during a press conference Monday. “This group sent a letter with some outlines and toplines with their concerns and priorities. What this meeting is not is a forum for the president to make or accept an offer.”
Psaki will also hold a White House press briefing Monday at 11 a.m. EST. The briefing will be live in the player above.
The group of Republicans are proposing slimmer benefits, including $1,000 in direct payments to individuals earning up to $40,000 a year, or $80,000 for couples, according to a draft obtained by The Associated Press. The proposal would begin to phase out the benefit after that, with no payments for those individuals earning more than $50,000, or $100,000 for couples. That’s less than Biden’s proposal for $1,400 direct payments at higher incomes levels.
The cornerstone of the GOP plan appears to be $160 billion for the health care response – vaccine distribution, a “massive expansion” of testing, protective gear and funds for rural hospitals, according to the draft.
Others elements of the package are similar but at far lesser amounts, with $20 billion to reopen schools and $40 billion for Paycheck Protection Program business aid.
“In the spirit of bipartisanship and unity, we have developed a COVID-19 relief framework that builds on prior COVID assistance laws, all of which passed with bipartisan support,” the Republican senators wrote in their letter Sunday. “Our proposal reflects many of your stated priorities, and with your support, we believe that this plan could be approved quickly by Congress with bipartisan support.”
Winning the support of 10 Republicans would be significant for Biden in the 50-50 Senate where Vice President Kamala Harris is the tie-breaker. If all Democrats were to back an eventual compromise bill, the legislation would reach the 60-vote threshold necessary to overcome potential blocking efforts and pass under regular Senate procedures.
“I support passing COVID relief with support from Republicans if we can get it. But the COVID relief has to pass — no ifs, ands or buts,” Biden said Friday.
One of the signatories, Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy, said that the plan would cost about $600 billion.
“If you can’t find bipartisan compromise on COVID-19, I don’t know where you can find it,” said Ohio Sen. Rob Portman, who also signed the letter.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has said his chamber would begin work on it as early as this week. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Congress would complete a preliminary step before the end of the week.
But even as Biden extended the invitation to the Republican lawmakers, Psaki said that $1,400 relief checks, substantial funding for reopening schools, aid to small businesses and hurting families, and more “is badly needed.”
“As leading economists have said, the danger now is not in doing too much: it is in doing too little,” Psaki said. “Americans of both parties are looking to their leaders to meet the moment.”
Brian Deese, the top White House economic adviser leading the administration’s outreach to Congress, indicated the White House could be open to negotiating on further limiting who would receive stimulus checks.
Portman suggested the checks should go to individuals who make no more than $50,000 per year and families capped at $100,000 per year.
Under the Biden plan, families with incomes up to $300,000 could receive some stimulus money.
“That is certainly a place that we’re willing to sit down and think about, are there ways to make the entire package more effective?” Deese said.
In the letter, the Republican lawmakers reminded Biden that in his inaugural address, he proclaimed that the challenges facing the nation require “the most elusive of things in a democracy: Unity.”
Cassidy separately criticized the current Biden plan as “chock-full of handouts and payoffs to Democratic constituency groups.”
“You want the patina of bipartisanship … so that’s not unity,” Cassidy said.
Jared Bernstein, a member of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, said officials needed to see more details from Republicans. Doing too little to stimulate the economy could have enormous impact on the economy in the near- and long-term, he said.
“Look, the American people really couldn’t care less about budget process, whether it’s regular order, bipartisanship, whether it’s filibuster, whether it’s reconciliation,” Bernstein said. “They need relief, and they need it now.”
Congress enacted $4 trillion in COVID-19 relief last year.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
The Link LonkFebruary 01, 2021 at 10:28PM
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Biden to meet with GOP lawmakers to discuss virus relief, stimulus checks - WPRI.com
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