Trump, Congress square off over virus aid
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump acknowledged Monday a “big flare up” of COVID-19 cases, but divisions between the White House and Senate Republicans and differences with Democrats posed fresh challenges for a new federal aid package with the U.S. crisis worsening and emergency relief about to expire.
Trump convened GOP leaders at the White House as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell prepared to roll out his $1 trillion package in a matter of days. But the administration criticized the legislation’s money for more virus testing and insisted on a payroll tax cut that could complicate quick passage. The timeline appeared to quickly shift.
“We’ve made a lot of progress,” Trump said as the meeting got underway.
But the president added, “Unfortunately, this is something that’s very tough.”
Lawmakers returned to a Capitol still off-limits to tourists, another sign of the nation’s difficulty containing the coronavirus. Rather than easing, the pandemic’s devastating cycle is churning again, leaving Congress little choice but to engineer another costly rescue. Businesses are shutting down again, many schools will not fully reopen and jobs are disappearing, all while federal aid will expire in days.
Without a successful federal strategy, lawmakers are trying to draft one.
“We have to end this virus,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, DCalif., said Monday on MSNBC.
She said any attempt by the White House to block money for testing “goes beyond ignorance.”
The political stakes are high for both parties before the November election, and even more so for the nation, which now has registered more coronavirus infections and a higher death count of 140,800 than any other country.
McConnell and House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy huddled with Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and acting chief of staff Mark Meadows.
Mnuchin vowed passage by month’s end, as earlier benefits expire, and said he expected a fresh $1 trillion jolt of business tax breaks and other aid would have a “big impact” on the economy.
The package from McConnell, being crafted behind closed doors, is expected to include $75 billion to help schools reopen. It will likely replace an expiring $600 weekly unemployment benefits boost with a smaller amount, send a fresh round of direct $1,200 cash payments to Americans below a certain income level and create a sweeping five-year liability shield against coronavirus lawsuits.
But the administration was panning the proposal’s $25 billion in new funds for virus testing and tracing, said two Republicans familiar with ongoing discussions but granted anonymity to discuss them. McCarthy said Trump’s push for a payroll tax break is included in the bill.
GOP senators pushed back as the Republicans and the White House battle over priorities.
Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, the chairman of the Health committee, said, “All roads to opening school, going back to work, opening child care lead through testing.”
GOP Sen. John Cornyn of Texas was among several Republicans saying he’s “not a fan” of a payroll tax holiday.
Easing the payroll tax is dividing Trump’s party because that tax is used to finance Social Security and Medicare. Cutting it adds to the nation’s rising debt load at a time when conservatives are wary of any new spending, and the break does little for out-ofwork Americans. McConnell is straining to keep the bill’s total price tag at $1 trillion.
On a conference call with the nation’s governors Monday, Pence called the rising numbers in Sunbelt states “serious.” And a somber McConnell said in his home state of Kentucky last week, “it’s not going to magically disappear.”