This article is from the source 'nytimes' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/15/us/politics/bipartisan-stimulus-bill.html

The article has changed 2 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 0 Version 1
Amid Stimulus Impasse, Bipartisan Group Offers $1.5 Trillion Compromise As Democrats Fret, Pelosi Vows to Act Again on Stimulus Plan Before Election
(about 16 hours later)
A bipartisan group of 50 centrist lawmakers plans on Tuesday to present a $1.5 trillion plan to prop up the coronavirus-ravaged economy, making a last-ditch attempt to broach a compromise in hopes of breaking a stalemate in stimulus talks before November’s elections. WASHINGTON — Facing growing concern from moderate Democrats in competitive re-election races, Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California said on Tuesday that the House would not leave for the November elections without acting on an additional round of federal aid to prop up the coronavirus-ravaged economy.
The proposal faces long odds amid partisan divisions over what should be included in such a package, and members of the group — which calls itself the House Problem Solvers Caucus — concede privately that their framework stands little chance of becoming law. But the decision to offer it up publicly reflects frustration among rank-and-file lawmakers in both parties at the failure by their leaders to agree to another round of pandemic aid, and a reluctance to return home weeks before Election Day without cementing such help. The declaration, coming more than a month after stimulus talks between top Democrats and the White House stalled with the two sides deeply divided, suggested that the political pressure to reach a compromise is mounting even as time is dwindling to deliver such a deal. It came as centrist Democrats, increasingly frustrated with the gridlock and anxious about returning home to constituents without having addressed the devastating toll of the pandemic, are quietly agitating for Ms. Pelosi to hold another vote on a recovery measure — if only to demonstrate a willingness to find an agreement.
Aiming for a middle ground between Republican and Democratic positions, the proposal includes measures that enjoy bipartisan support, like reviving the popular Paycheck Protection Program for small businesses and direct checks of $1,200 or more for American taxpayers, as well as more contentious ones like new legal rights and protections for workers and their employers. “We have to stay here until we have a bill,” Ms. Pelosi privately told lawmakers during a conference call on Tuesday morning, according to two people familiar with the remarks who disclosed them on the condition of anonymity. Shortly afterward, she repeated the promise in an interview on CNBC, saying, “We are committed to staying here until we have an agreement that meets the needs of the American people.”
But the bulk of its proposed spending would fall somewhere in the middle of what the two parties have championed. The measure would reinstate lapsed federal jobless aid at $450 per week for eight weeks, then replace up to $600 weekly in lost wages for an additional five weeks. That is more than Republicans wanted, but less than the flat, $600-a-week benefit that lapsed at the end of July, which Democrats have insisted must be extended in full. And the proposal would send $500 billion to strapped state and local governments, less than the nearly $1 trillion Democrats included in their $3.4 trillion stimulus plan that passed the House in May, but roughly double what the White House has signaled it could support. Rank-and file lawmakers in both parties have become increasingly disaffected about the failure by their leaders to reach agreement on another round of pandemic aid, and divisions have surfaced among Democrats about how to proceed. Shortly after Ms. Pelosi’s declarations on Tuesday, a group of 50 centrist Republicans and Democrats put forward a stimulus proposal worth as much as $2 trillion that they said they hoped could shake up the stalled talks, but the plan was swiftly rejected by senior Democrats who called it “a retreat” from the party’s priorities.
The coalition proposing the measure is led by Representatives Josh Gottheimer, Democrat of New Jersey, and Tom Reed, Republican of New York. In unveiling it, the group is seeking to send a signal to Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the lead White House negotiators — Mark Meadows, the chief of staff, and Steven Mnuchin, the Treasury secretary — that there is ample common ground to be found in talks that have been dormant for weeks. At the same time, moderate Democrats facing tough re-election contests, who traditionally have Ms. Pelosi’s ear, amped up their demands for action.
But reviving the talks is a tall order. Negotiations all but broke down in August after a brief but intense round of discussions between Democrats and White House officials to reconcile vast differences in priorities and cost, principally over money for states and those out of work. The primary negotiators have all but given up on passing something into law before the election, and are now focused on agreeing to a stopgap spending measure to keep the government funded through the fall. It was unclear, given the House’s unusual pandemic-era voting rules, what exactly Ms. Pelosi meant when she pledged to keep the chamber in session until there was a deal. It was unlikely that all 430-plus members of the House would stay in Washington past early October, when they are scheduled to return to their districts for the final stretch of the campaign.
In the meantime, millions of jobless Americans are beginning to exhaust traditional unemployment aid that has kept them afloat and stimulated the economy, and many small businesses, including restaurants, have been left to contend with a steep drop in revenue and coming cold weather on their own. The prospects of any compromise remained long, and many lawmakers and aides on Capitol Hill have all but given up on passing something into law before the election. In the meantime, millions of jobless Americans are beginning to exhaust traditional unemployment aid that has kept them afloat and stimulated the economy, and many small businesses, including restaurants, have been left to contend with a steep drop in revenue and coming cold weather on their own.
Members of the Problem Solvers Caucus, which is composed of moderate members and has few significant policy achievements to its name, set out to draft their own proposal in early August as they, like most other lawmakers in the House, were frozen out of the talks. “This is a failure of leadership across the board — Democrats and Republicans,” Representative Max Rose, Democrat of New York, said in an interview. He called the quick rejection of the bipartisan proposal “yet another demonstration of why the American people hate politics.”
In addition to Mr. Gottheimer and Mr. Reed, Representatives Dean Phillips, Democrat of Minnesota, and Dusty Johnson, Republican of South Dakota, helped write the framework, which took about six weeks to draft. Mr. Rose was among the members of the bipartisan House Problem Solvers Caucus, whose plan was a last-ditch attempt to broach a compromise before November’s elections.
Though the price tag falls well below that of the $2.2 trillion stimulus law Congress unanimously passed in March, or House Democrats’ $3.4 trillion bill, its effects would be far-reaching. The measure would infuse the economy with at least $1.5 trillion in new money, in addition to repurposing $130 billion from previous legislation and building in $400 billion in automatic triggers that would extend jobless aid and provide for another round of stimulus checks if the economy remains hobbled in January. Aiming for a middle ground between Republican and Democratic positions, the proposal includes measures that have bipartisan support, like reviving the popular Paycheck Protection Program for small businesses and direct checks of $1,200 or more for American taxpayers.
In addition to money for state and local governments and for schools, lawmakers included $100 billion for testing, contact tracing and other health initiatives to try to increase the nation’s testing capacity to three million tests a day. There is money for expanding rural and urban broadband, supporting agricultural workers and extending the 2020 census to ensure an accurate count. But hours after its public release, top Democrats issued a takedown of the plan.
The bill would allocate $25 billion for mortgage and rental assistance, $130 billion for schools and $15 billion for the beleaguered Postal Service, as well as separate funds to administer the 2020 elections during a health crisis and for food assistance programs. “When it comes to bolstering the public health system, supporting state and local governments and assisting struggling families, the Problem Solvers’ proposal leaves too many needs unmet,” they wrote. “With the general election just 49 days away and the Postal Service sabotaged by the Trump administration, their proposal also abandons our responsibility to protect the life of our democracy.”
The group also proposed building in automatic triggers that would extend jobless aid and provide for another round of stimulus checks if the economy remains hobbled in January, potentially driving up the measure’s cost. Lawmakers had acknowledged that the plan was unlikely to become law. But in unveiling it, the group sought to signal to Ms. Pelosi and the lead White House negotiators — Mark Meadows, the chief of staff, and Steven Mnuchin, the Treasury secretary — that there was ample common ground to be found in talks that have been dormant for weeks.
“I hope very much that leadership hears us in the Senate, the House and the White House,” said Representative Elissa Slotkin, Democrat of Michigan and a freshman who flipped a seat in a district Mr. Trump won in 2016 by seven points. “None of us want to go back to our constituents and say that we didn’t try, that we didn’t do everything we could.”
Senate Republicans, who have continued to denounce their Democratic counterparts for preventing a scaled-down Republican plan from advancing on Thursday, charged that Democrats had no interest in a legislative compromise until control of the House, Senate and the White House had been decided. Negotiators are now focused on agreeing to a stopgap spending measure to keep the government funded through the fall.
“I don’t see her being more willing to negotiate before we get to the election,” Senator John Cornyn, Republican of Texas, said of Ms. Pelosi on Tuesday. “So, I think I’m not too optimistic, but if lightning strikes, I’ll be here.”
The House passed a $3.4 trillion stimulus measure in May, but Republicans rejected it out of hand and have recently pushed for what they call a “skinny” bill that would provide just $350 billion in new spending. Ms. Pelosi has been adamant that Democrats will not accept anything less than $2.2 trillion, arguing that the toll of the pandemic warrants a significant new infusion from Congress. But multiple factions in the Democratic caucus have privately urged her and other leaders to remain in Washington and find a solution.
“A skinny deal is not a deal,” Ms. Pelosi privately told Democrats Tuesday morning. “It is a Republican bill.”
A meeting with the moderate New Democrat Coalition grew tense as well, as several of its members pressed Ms. Pelosi and Representative Steny H. Hoyer, Democrat of Maryland and the majority leader, to keep members in Washington until a deal could be reached.
“When I speak to my constituents, they don’t ask me why Mitch McConnell isn’t doing anything,” Representative Kathleen Rice, Democrat of New York, told the leaders, referring to the Senate majority leader, according to two people familiar with her comments. “They ask me what our Democratic majority is doing to work around him.”
Ms. Pelosi encouraged Ms. Rice to poll her colleagues to see how many really wanted to stay.
The situation has exacerbated existing divisions among Democrats, many of whom argued that Ms. Pelosi was right to insist on a wide-ranging $2.2 trillion package.
On the private call Tuesday morning, Representative Sean Patrick Maloney, Democrat of New York and one of the more than 30 Democrats who represents a district Mr. Trump won in 2016, urged his colleagues to “lean in, support the speaker, stay the course.”
“I do not feel this is one of the cases where the politics are bad for frontline members,” Mr. Maloney said in an interview.
“I have been in many situations where the policies of a Trump district is at odds with the sentiments of the House Democratic caucus I think the speaker is spot on in her approach to this, and we should stick with it until we win a real victory that addresses the needs of the people we represent.”
Luke Broadwater and Catie Edmondson contributed reporting.