The House Rules Committee will meet on Tuesday afternoon to begin work on the coronavirus budget alignment package after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer each tabled budget resolutions in their respective chambers on Monday – setting up a process for Democrats to go it alone on the relief from the coronavirus.
The move follows a meeting between a group of 10 Republican senators and President Biden on Monday evening to discuss a possible two-pronged way forward on coronavirus control. If a compromise can be reached between that group and the 50 Democrats in the Senate, they will have enough votes to overcome a filibuster of other Republicans.
“I think we had very good dialogue,” said Senator Mike Rounds, RS.D., on Tuesday at “Fox & Friends First” of the meeting with Biden. “I came away thinking that there is hope to find something in the future, but it won’t be easy.”
REPUBLICANS SAY BIDEN STIMULUS MEETING WAS ‘PRODUCTIVE’ BUT NOT A DEAL STRUCK
A statement by Senate Republicans released Monday evening also said they were “grateful that President Biden chose to spend so much time with us at his first official meeting in the Oval Office to discuss the response to the COVID crisis. ” The group, which is led by Senator Susan Collins, R-Maine, said the meeting was “a very productive exchange of views.”
But White House press secretary Jen Psaki said that while Biden “shares a desire to get help for the American people … he reiterated that he will not delay work on this urgent crisis response and will not settle for it. a package that does not meet the moment. “
The Republicans’ proposal of just over $ 600 billion, which they label as “ targeted, ” is not even one-third the size of Biden’s $ 1.9 trillion proposal, which Schumer, DN.Y. and Pelosi, D-Calif., use as a template for their work in Congress.
“Congress has a responsibility to provide prompt and immediate comprehensive assistance to the American people hurt by COVID-19,” Schumer and Pelosi said in a joint statement announcing that they had tabled budget resolutions, taking the first procedural step. names needed to keep coronavirus help within budget. reconciliation and bypass Republicans.
“The cost of inactivity is high and increasing, and the time for decisive action is now. With this budget resolution, the Democratic Congress paves the way for the groundbreaking Biden-Harris coronavirus package that will crush the virus and provide real help to families.” communities in need, “they added.” We hope that the Republicans will work on two sides to support aid to their communities, but the American people cannot afford any more delay and Congress must act to avoid more unnecessary suffering. appearance.”
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Chairman of the House Budget Committee Rep. John Yarmuth, D-Ky., Backed Pelosi and Schumer, saying that “while reconciliation does not preclude a bipartisan package, it ensures that Congress can meet the needs of the American people, whether the Republicans want to help or not. “
Republicans have warned that any coronavirus control action that deliberately leaves them behind would create a stalemate and partisan opposition for the next two years. But Democrats are wary of working with Republicans after the GOP opposition crippled some of former President Barack Obama’s priorities during his first term, including economic stimulus stemming from the financial crisis.
“We cannot repeat the mistakes of 2009,” Schumer said in a tweet on Monday.
Democrats have telegraphed that they are striving to build “two-pronged” support for Biden’s plan outside of Congress and among the public, even if it means leaving the Republicans in Congress in the dust.
“He’s facing the biggest problems, but probably the biggest opportunities of any president since the FDR,” Biden adviser Anita Dunn told CNN. “Even with a narrow majority in Congress, he has the opportunity to build broad bipartisan support for his program – not necessarily in Congress, but among the American people.”
But it is not clear that Biden even has the full backing of his party to approve an aid package in the context of a budget reconciliation.
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Vice President Kamala Harris appeared on local television in both West Virginia and Arizona last week in an apparent acknowledgment of that reality in what was widely seen as a strong tactic to get moderate Sens. Joe Manchin, DW.Va., and Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., To support Biden’s plan.
Manchin told WSAZ he was surprised and upset that Harris was doing the local television appearance without giving him a warning, and on Monday he declined to commit to supporting Biden’s $ 1.9 trillion plan if it were to go through reconciliation adopted at the request of Fox News.
“Senator Manchin is still committed to a two-pronged way forward,” a spokesman said.
The Sinema office did not immediately return a request for comment with the same question.