WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Democrats scuttled a scaled-back GOP coronavirus rescue package on Thursday as the parties argued to a standstill over the size and scope of the aid, likely ending hopes for coronavirus relief before the November election.
The mostly party-line vote capped weeks of wrangling that gave way to election-season political combat and name-calling over a fifth relief bill that all sides say they want but are unable to deliver. The bipartisan spirit that powered earlier aid measures is all but gone.
Democrats said the measure shortchanged too many pressing needs. Republicans argued it was targeted to areas of widespread agreement, but the 52-47 vote fell well short of what was needed to overcome a filibuster. All the present Democrats opposed it, while conservative Rand Paul, R-Ky., cast the only GOP “nay” vote. The Democratic vice presidential nominee, Kamala Harris, was campaigning in Miami and missed the vote.
“It’s a sort of a dead end street, and very unfortunate,” said Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan. “But it is what it is.”
The $500 billion measure is roughly half the size of legislation promoted by Republican leaders this summer. But that version was too big for most conservatives, so the GOP bill was instead stripped back to focus on school aid, jobless benefits and help for small businesses. That maximized Republican support even as it alienated Democrats, who say such a piecemeal approach would leave out far too many vulnerable people.
The result was a predictable impasse and partisan tit-for tat as the congressional session limps to its pre-election close. The panicked atmosphere that drove passage of the $2 trillion landmark CARES Act in March has dissipated as the nation powers through the pandemic with partial reopenings of businesses and schools, though the economy lags and the virus continues to badly disrupt life in the U.S.
It’s becoming plain that all Congress will do before the Nov. 3 election is pass legislation to avert a government shutdown. The outcome of the election promises to have an outsize impact on what might be possible in a postelection lame-duck session, with Democrats sure to press for a better deal if Democrat Joe Biden unseats President Donald Trump.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., predicted that Thursday’s GOP defeat would prompt Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., back to the negotiating table, as an earlier filibuster in March helped make the $2 trillion rescue bill more generous.
“But (Thursday’s) bill is not going to happen because it is so emaciated, so filled with poison pills, so partisanly designed,” Schumer said.
McConnell crafted the measure to permit his GOP colleagues to go on record in favor of popular provisions such as another round of “paycheck protection” help for smaller businesses, help for schools to reopen and supplemental jobless benefits. He again blasted Democrats on Thursday, saying they are still pushing a liberal wish list and are willing to scuttle provisions with widespread backing to deny Trump a victory.
“Today every senator will either say they want to send families the relief we can agree to or they can send families nothing,” McConnell said.
There’s no indication yet that bipartisan talks that crumbled last month will restart. Top lawmakers and aides offered glum assessments both publicly and privately.
Veteran Iowa Republican Chuck Grassley said it’s “sad” there will be no virus aid deal, though he also said the outlook for the economy may not be as bleak as he once thought.
“If you’d asked me, two or three weeks ago I’d say very, very negative,” Grassley said. But with the job market improving and “the whole world kind of getting out of this pandemic, depression, we’re in” Grassley said, there’s “a lot less of an impact than I would have thought two weeks ago.”
The stalemate is politically risky for all sides heading into the fall election, and both sides accused the other of acting primarily with political calculations in mind. Democrats said GOP senators need to “check a box” and vote on any kind of relief bill before exiting Washington to campaign while Republicans said Democrats were intent on denying Republicans a political win.
“What is of overwhelming importance to Democrats is keeping coronavirus alive as a political issue,” said Sen. John Thune, R-S.D. “They’d rather have no bill, zero funding and a political weapon than have a bill and allow Republicans to say that we helped Americans.”
All that’s left — barring a breakthrough that looks unlikely now — is to pass a government-wide short-term spending measure that would avert a shutdown at month’s end and set up a postelection lame-duck session to deal with any unfinished Capitol Hill legislation, which could include coronavirus relief.
The scaled-back GOP virus plan is roughly one-seventh the size of a whopping Democratic package that passed the house in May and about one-fourth of the $2.2 trillion set by Pelosi last month. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin mentioned a $1.5 trillion figure in testimony last week.
The failed measure would have provide $105 billion to help schools reopen, created a scaled-back $300-per-week supplemental jobless benefit, and devoted $258 billion for a second round of paycheck protection subsidies for smaller businesses. Lesser amounts would have furthered vaccine research and development and funded the Postal Service, farmers, and child care.
It did not contain a new round of $1,200 direct payments to Americans, and the new $300 weekly jobless benefit would expire just after Christmas, on Dec. 27. The GOP bill also lacked money for election costs that lawmakers from both parties have supported to accommodate a huge influx of mail-in ballots.
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WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Democrats scuttled a scaled-back GOP coronavirus rescue package on Thursday, saying the measure shortchanged too many pressing needs as the pandemic continues its assault on the country.
The mostly party-line vote capped weeks of wrangling over a fifth relief bill that all sides say they want but are unable to deliver. The bipartisan spirit that powered earlier aid measures has given way to election-season political combat and name-calling. The 52-47 vote fell well short of what was needed to overcome a filibuster and seems likely to end hopes for coronavirus relief before the November election.
The $500 billion measure is roughly half the size of legislation promoted by GOP leaders this summer, but was too big for most conservatives. Instead, the GOP bill was stripped back to focus on school aid, jobless benefits and help for small businesses. That maximized Republican support even as it alienated Democrats, who say such a piecemeal approach would leave out far too many vulnerable people.
The result was a predictable impasse and partisan tit for tat as the congressional session limps to its preelection close. It’s becoming plain that all Congress will do before the Nov. 3 election is pass legislation to avert a government shutdown. The outcome of the election promises to have an outsize impact on what might be possible in a postelection lame-duck session, with Democrats sure to press for a better deal if Democrat Joe Biden unseats President Donald Trump.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., predicted that Thursday’s GOP defeat would prompt Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., back to the negotiating table, as an earlier filibuster in March helped make the $2 trillion rescue bill more generous.
“But (Thursday’s) bill is not going to happen because it is so emaciated, so filled with poison pills, so partisanly designed,” Schumer said.
McConnell crafted the measure to permit his GOP colleagues to go on record in favor of popular provisions such as another round of “paycheck protection” help for smaller businesses, help for schools to reopen and supplemental jobless benefits. He again blasted Democrats on Thursday, saying they are still pushing a liberal wish list and are willing to scuttle provisions with widespread backing to deny Trump a victory.
“Today every senator will either say they want to send families the relief we can agree to or they can send families nothing,” McConnell said.
There’s no indication yet that bipartisan talks that crumbled last month will restart. Top lawmakers and aides offered glum assessments both publicly and privately.
The stalemate is politically risky for all sides heading into the fall election, which will decide not only the presidency, but also control of Congress.
While nationwide coronavirus cases appear to be at a plateau, there is still widespread economic hardship and social unease in homes, schools and businesses affected by closures. Experts warn that infections are expected to spike again if Americans fail to abide by public health guidelines for mask-wearing and social distancing, especially amid colder weather and flu season.
McConnell said Democrats have not backed off what he said were unreasonable demands. He accused Democrats of acting as though it is to their political advantage to deny Republicans and Trump a victory on the virus so close to Election Day.
Schumer said Republicans are “so out of touch.” He predicted Republicans and the White House “may yet be forced to come back to the table because COVID is the major issue that’s facing the American people.”
The stalemate has left McConnell and Republicans to say that they support a short-term spending measure, called a continuing resolution, or CR, that would avert a government shutdown at month’s end and set up a postelection lame-duck session to deal with any unfinished Capitol Hill legislation, which could include coronavirus relief.
The Republican measure in Thursday’s test vote would:
—provide $105 billion to help schools reopen.
—enact a shield against lawsuits for businesses and others moving ahead to reopen.
—create a scaled-back $300-per-week supplemental jobless benefit.
—write off $10 billion in earlier debt at the U.S. Postal Service.
— set aside $31 billion for a coronavirus vaccine, $16 billion for virus testing and $15 billion to help child care providers reopen.
— provide $20 billion for farmers.
— devote $258 billion for a second round of paycheck protection subsidies.
It did not contain a new round of $1,200 direct payments going out under Trump’s name, and the new $300 weekly jobless benefit would expire just after Christmas, on Dec. 27. The GOP bill also lacked money for election security that lawmakers from both parties have supported.
Democrats say the GOP bill is far too small and leaves out important priorities, including hundreds of billions of dollars for state and local governments, more generous jobless benefits, and help for renters and homeowners, along with other provisions in the House Democrats’ $3.5 trillion relief bill that passed in May.
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WASHINGTON (AP) — Top Republican senators made pessimistic predictions Wednesday about securing a bipartisan coronavirus relief package before the November election, signaling instead they will just try to pass legislation that would avoid a federal shutdown as lawmakers head home to campaign.
There’s no indication yet that bipartisan talks that crumbled last month will restart. Lawmakers closely tracking recent efforts to strike a deal that could pass before the November election said they saw little reason for hope.
The stalemate is politically risky for all sides heading into the fall election that will decide not only the presidency, but also control of Congress.
“Unless something really broke through, it’s not going to happen,” said Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee.
While nationwide coronavirus cases appear to be at a plateau, there is still widespread economic hardship and social unease in homes, schools and businesses affected by closures. Experts warn that infections are expected to spike again if Americans fail to abide by public health guidelines for mask-wearing and social distancing, especially with colder weather and flu season.
McConnell said Democrats have not backed off what he said were unreasonable demands. He accused Democrats of acting as though it is to their political advantage to deny Republicans and President Donald Trump a victory on the virus so close to Election Day. Without Democratic votes, the GOP bill cannot reach the threshold needed to advance the aid plan. “They do not want any bipartisan relief,” he said.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said the GOP bill leaves out too many people, especially the vulnerable.
“It does nothing. There are millions of kids who are food insecure, millions, maybe 14 million in our country, food insecure. He has nothing for that,” Pelosi said Wednesday on MSNBC. “There are millions of families, victims of evictions because they can’t pay the rent. They don’t care about that. “
He predicted Republicans and the White House “may yet be forced to come back to the table because COVID is the major issue that’s facing the American people.”
The stalemate has left McConnell and Republicans to say that they support a short-term spending measure, called a continuing resolution, or CR, that would avert a government shutdown at month’s end and set up a postelection lame-duck session to deal with any unfinished Capitol Hill legislation, which could include coronavirus relief.
“My guess would be that if we leave in September with a CR, we will not come back to do anything before the election,” said Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo.
Shelby said lawmakers from both parties want to return home to campaign rather than stick around Washington.
Schumer said he has not decided whether to support a December date for a stopgap measure. Some Democrats, confident about presidential nominee Joe Biden’s prospects in November, want to push unfinished spending bills into next year and therefore avoid dealing with Trump in December. The nation’s longest ever government shutdown unfolded as 2018 turned into 2019.
The Republican measure headed for a test vote Thursday would:
— Provide $105 billion to help schools reopen.
— Enact a shield against lawsuits for businesses and others moving ahead to reopen.
— Create a scaled-back $300-per-week supplemental jobless benefit.
— Write off $10 billion in earlier debt at the U.S. Postal Service.
— Set aside $31 billion for a coronavirus vaccine, $16 billion for virus testing and $15 billion to help child care providers reopen.
— Provide $20 billion for farmers.
— Devote $258 billion for a second round of paycheck protection subsidies.
But it does not contain a new round of $1,200 direct payments going out under Trump’s name, and the new $300 weekly jobless benefit would expire just after Christmas, on Dec. 27. The GOP bill also lacks money for election security that lawmakers from both parties have supported.
Democrats say the GOP bill is far too small and leaves out important priorities, including hundreds of billions of dollars for state and local governments, more generous jobless benefits, and help for renters and homeowners, along with other provisions in the House Democrats’ $3.5 trillion relief bill that passed in May.