Topline
Democratic congressional leaders set the wheels in motion Monday to pass a sweeping $1.9 trillion stimulus package with no input from Republicans as partisan debate over the next round of federal aid legislation intensifies on Capitol Hill.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) speak after … [+]
Key Facts
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) announced Monday that they were filing a joint budget resolution, the first step in a special legislative process that could ultimately allow Democrats to pass President Joe Biden’s massive stimulus plan without any Republican votes.
Biden’s plan has drawn criticism from some lawmakers that it is too expensive and that some of its costlier provisions, like another round of direct payments to Americans, aren’t targeted to those who actually need the money.
Among those critics are ten Republicans who will meet with Biden on Monday to discuss a $618 billion compromise plan they have developed, but their proposal has already drawn criticism from Democrats who say it is too small.
In a Monday briefing, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the upcoming meeting is “not a forum for the president to make or accept an offer” and signaled that Biden believes the pared-back proposal is too small, adding that the risk when it comes to stimulus spending is “not that [Biden’s $1.9 trillion plan] is too big…the risk is that it is too small. That remains his view.”
Biden has also drawn criticism from Republicans—as well as conservative Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia—who say that his party’s willingness to push large-scale stimulus legislation through Congress without GOP input is antithetical to his campaign message of unity.
Senate Budget Committee chair Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) told ABC’s This Week Sunday that while he is willing to work with Republicans on stimulus measures, the needs of the country are too urgent to wait: “The issue is not bipartisanship…the issue is, are we going to address the incredible set of crises and the pain and the anxiety which is in this country?”
Crucial Quote
“With this budget resolution, the Democratic Congress is paving the way for the landmark Biden-Harris coronavirus package that will crush the virus and deliver real relief to families and communities in need,” Schumer and Pelosi said in a joint statement. “We are hopeful that Republicans will work in a bipartisan manner to support assistance for their communities, but the American people cannot afford any more delays and the Congress must act to prevent more needless suffering.”
Key Background
Biden has repeatedly said that his preference is to pass legislation with bipartisan support rather than through the special budget reconciliation process, but deep divisions among lawmakers about the size of the bill, and especially about the bill’s costlier provisions like state and local aid and stimulus checks, have cast the prospects of a bipartisan agreement into doubt. Moody’s Analytics chief economist Mark Zandi suggested in a research note Monday that a compromise under which Biden scaled back stimulus checks and state and local aid and Republicans agreed to allocate more money for unemployment insurance, rental assistance and school aid could produce a stimulus package that would see the U.S. economy through the worst of the pandemic.
Tangent
A group of 13 Democratic senators led by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) is urging leaders of both parties to ensure that additional state and local aid is included in the next bill, pointing to overburdened unemployment systems, insufficient rural broadband that impedes virtual schooling, and small businesses ineligible for federal relief programs. Biden’s $1.9 trillion stimulus plan would send another $350 billion in federal aid to state, local and tribal governments, on top of the $150 billion allocated by the CARES Act in March. The $618 billion Republican plan would not include any additional state and local aid.
Further Reading
Republican Gov. Jim Justice Adds Pressure On Manchin To Pass Stimulus: Not The Time To Be ‘Fiscally Responsible’ (Forbes)
New Details Of $618 Billion GOP Stimulus Plan Released As Schumer Blasts ‘Take-It-Or-Leave-It’ Offer (Forbes)
Bernie Sanders Says Democrats Can’t Break Stimulus Check Promises As GOP Pushes Smaller Compromise Bill (Forbes)
GOP Senators Offer Alternative Stimulus Plan As Democrats Prepare To Pass $1.9 Trillion Rescue Bill Without Them (Forbes)
