A $300 boost to weekly unemployment checks and another $300 billion to keep small businesses afloat were among details unveiled Wednesday in a bipartisan coronavirus relief package on Capitol Hill.
However, funding for state and local governments and liabilities protection for businesses remain the hang-ups for the $908 billion deal as time runs out before Congress takes a winter break.
Lawmakers from both parties and both chambers continued to chug away, hoping to settle on a deal acceptable to the Democrat-controlled House and the GOP-run Senate — though a $916 billion proposal from the White House was vying for attention.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Kentucky Republican, accused Democrats of obstructing progress by not accepting the Trump administration proposal.
“The American people are hurting. We’re in the thick of one of the worst national crises in modern memory. And people’s eyes are fixed on Congress. They need the House and the Senate to stop chasing our tails and make law,” he said.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, California Democrat, urged lawmakers to hold out for more results from the bipartisan coalition.
DOCUMENT: Framework Summary for the Bipartisan Emergency COVID Relief Act of 2020
Democrats were turned off by the administration’s cuts to the supercharged unemployment benefits. They accused Mr. McConnell of only pursuing partisan proposals.
“Democrats have continually lowered our proposals, now by over $2 trillion, to move closer to our Republican colleagues, in the spirit of compromise and for the sake of getting something done for the American people,” said Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat. “The only way to get that done is in a bipartisan fashion. The sooner the Republican leader realizes it, the better.”
One of the bigger sticking points remains using federal funds to help state and local governments with budgets hard hit by the economic shutdown. The payout is a priority of Democrats but opposed by Republicans who call it a “bailout” for poorly run Democrat cities and municipalities where budget woes predate the pandemic.
Democrats, meanwhile, are skeptical of GOP efforts to provide liability protection for schools and businesses from coronavirus-related lawsuits, calling the proposed immunities a free pass for businesses to put workers and customers at risk.
The bipartisan framework as it stands now provides a 16-week extension of unemployment benefits set to expire this month, along with the $300 boost, according to a summary of the plan obtained by The Washington Times.
The proposal also sets aside $300 billion for the small business Paycheck Protection Program to allow for another round of loans, though only businesses with 300 or fewer employees would be eligible.
There were no direct stimulus payments in the framework such as in the administration package, which would send a $600 check to most Americans.
Despite the GOP leaders emphasizing the administration’s proposal, most of the attention at the Capitol remained focused on the bipartisan group’s negotiations.
Republican and Democratic negotiators have not yet publicly proposed a potential deal to address funding for state and local governments as well as liability protection for schools and businesses — two issues that have been at the core of every collapsed deal since the summer months.
“People are looking for a solution, and it does seem we can either pass something we both agree on, which involves leaving out things we disagree on,” Sen. John Barrasso, Wyoming Republican, told reporters. “We want liability in, they want state and local in. So we can either try to get a solution including them or a solution excluding them, but you can’t have one and not the other.”
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