GOP, Democrats reject $1.8T Trump proposal
Prospects for more stimulus checks, COVID relief fade
Senate Republicans and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-calif., raised intense objections Saturday to a new $1.8 trillion economic relief proposal from the Trump administration, greatly dimming prospects for a coronavirus relief deal before the election.
On a conference call Saturday morning with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and White
House chief of staff Mark Meadows, multiple GOP senators denounced the proposal, attacking the price tag as too big, questioning the overall direction and criticizing individual proposals, according to several people who participated in the call or were briefed on its contents. They spoke on the condition of anonymity to detail the private discussion.
Sen. John Barrasso, R-wyo., called a proposed expansion of Affordable Care Act tax credits to the unemployed “an enormous betrayal” of the GOP’S long-standing opposition to Obamacare.
“I don’t get it,” said Sen. Rick Scott, R-fla., of the giant spending proposal that incorporates a number of Democratic priorities that are anathema to the GOP.
Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-tenn., predicted that advancing such legislation
would prove the “death knell” of the GOP majority.
Sen. Mike Lee, R-utah, said that the deal could complicate floor timing as the Senate tries to fill the Supreme Court vacancy this month, and hurt Republicans at the ballot box because the Supreme Court fight would no longer be front and center.
The opposition was so fierce that Meadows told the group, “You all will have to come to my funeral” because he would have to take their message back to President Donald Trump.
The president has begun pushing aggressively for a big new spending deal he hopes could boost his re-election chances, reversing course after he pulled the plug on talks earlier in the week.
Almost at the same moment Senate Republicans were on the conference call, Pelosi released a letter to House Democrats that signaled the White House proposal would need significant changes and that it took “one step forward, two steps back.”
Pelosi said the president’s offer did not contain enough spending for unemployment insurance, state and local aid, child care, or other Democratic priorities. She said it also includes “reckless” language on liability protections for businesses and others. House Democrats have been pushing legislation with a $2.2 trillion price tag.
“When the president talks about wanting a bigger relief package, his proposal appears to mean that he wants more money at his discretion to grant or withhold, rather than agreeing on language prescribing how we honor our workers, crush the virus and put money in the pockets of workers,” Pelosi wrote.
Nonetheless, Pelosi wrote that she remained “hopeful” that two sides would find “an agreement on a relief package that addresses the health and economic crisis facing America’s families.”
Given Senate GOP opposition, however, it was unclear there was much basis for optimism.