President Joe Biden will meet Monday with a group of 10 Republican senators to to discuss their alternative proposal for Covid-19 economic relief, the lawmakers said in accepting his invitation.
The GOP lawmakers offered their $600 billion proposal early Sunday in a letter to Biden, responding to the $1.9 trillion plan he laid out more than two weeks ago and which Republicans have rejected.
Biden spoke Sunday with Maine Senator Susan Collins, one of the letter’s authors, to invite the group to a White House meeting “for a full exchange of views,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said later in the day. The lawmakers announced Sunday night that they would take Biden up on his invitation.
“We appreciate the President’s quick response to our letter, and we are pleased to accept his invitation to the White House tomorrow afternoon to discuss the path forward,” the senators said in a joint statemenThe Republicans’ offer is an opportunity for both sides to begin negotiations on a bipartisan deal, something Biden has hoped for since before taking office. At the same time, the GOP plan is far short of what the president wants, and Democrats could pursue the rest of the Biden proposal using a partisan budget tool.
Psaki hinted that the size of the Republicans’ proposal was far too small for Biden. “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,” she said.
The senators said they plan to unveil their plan on Monday, but offered some details, including a proposal for direct stimulus checks of up to $1,000, on Sunday talk shows. The group includes senators considered centrist, like Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, but more conservative Republicans as well.Unity’ Spirit
“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 senators wrote in the letter dated Sunday.
Having 10 Republicans on board is significant because that’s the number to reach 60 votes in the Senate to pass bills under normal procedures, assuming the chamber’s 50 Democrats would be on board.
Biden is “absolutely willing to negotiate,” Jared Bernstein, a member of Biden’s Council of Economic Advisers, said on “Fox News Sunday.”
“Glad to hear from this letter that they’re on board, but we need to learn a lot more about it. Right now, we are in a position where delay and inaction are the enemy of moving forward,” Bernstein said.
Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, one of the 10 Republicans who signed the letter, said on “Fox News Sunday” that the proposal comes to “about $600 billion” and is “very targeted.”
A Republican aide earlier pegged the cost at between $500 billion to $600 billion range. An official score hasn’t yet been completed.
Targeted Checks
The group said in their letter that they’re in favor of $160 billion for virus control measure and for some form of more targeted direct stimulus checks.
Cassidy suggested the stimulus payments would be as high as $1,000, adding that “there’s been very good analysis that above a certain income level, that money’s not spent.”
Biden has proposed $1,400 checks, topping up $600 payments made as part of a December stimulus package.Despite the overture from the Republicans, House Budget Chair John Yarmuth said Sunday he plans to move forward on Monday with introducing a fiscal 2021 budget resolution, the first step toward producing a reconciliation bill embodying the Biden stimulus.
The budget is to be voted on by the House later this week and will contain instructions to other committees to assemble the stimulus bill.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is threatening as soon as Tuesday to move the Senate toward the reconciliation, which would allow 50 Democrats to pass some parts of the Biden plan without any Republican cooperation.
Schumer on Sunday told the New York Daily News that Republicans talk to him and other Democratic lawmakers. “They should negotiate with us, not make a take-it-or-leave-it offer,” Schumer said — although the plan the GOP senators announced was not described as “take it or leave it.”Reconciliation Debate
Republicans used budget reconciliation to pass tax reform and in an attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act during the Trump administration.
There are limits on what can be done in reconciliation, though, and spending on health care and education, and state and local aid may be excluded.
The GOP aide, who asked not to be identified, said that if Biden took up the Republicans’ proposal he could attempt some of more contentious elements of his plan later via reconciliation.
Senator Rob Portman of Ohio, another of the Republicans who signed onto the compromise proposal, said Sunday that reverting to reconciliation would create more partisanship in Washington.
“If you can’t find bipartisanship on Covid-19, I don’t know where you can find it,” Portman said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”The Republican plan would have “all of the health care funding that President Biden has in his proposal,” Portman said, without offering details. Cassidy said the proposal would match Biden’s suggested funding for coronavirus vaccine distribution.
Republicans have raised objections to Biden‘s attempt to use the package to raise the national minimum wage to $15 per hour as well as proposals to expand child tax credits and provide aid to state and local governments.
Other senators signing Sunday’s letter were Todd Young of Indiana, Mike Rounds of South Dakota, Mitt Romney of Utah, Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, Jerry Moran of Kansas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina.