McConnell backs away from emerging virus deal
WASHINGTON – Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is hitting the brakes on an emerging COVID-19 aid package from a bipartisan group of lawmakers, saying Republican senators won’t support $160 billion in state and local funds as part of a potential tradeoff in the deal.
McConnell’s staff conveyed to top negotiators that the GOP leader sees no path to an agreement on a key aspect of the lawmakers’ existing proposal – a slimmed-down version of the liability shield for companies and organizations facing potential COVID-19 lawsuits – in exchange for $160 billion in state and local funds that Democrats want.
A senior Democrat confirmed that McConnell’s position was conveyed to negotiators and was granted anonymity to discuss the private talks. McConnell’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The hardened stance from McConnell, who does not appear to have the votes from Republicans for a far-reaching compromise, creates a new stalemate over the $900-billion-plus package, despite days of toiling by a bipartisan group of lawmakers toward a deal.
It comes as President Donald Trump’s top negotiator on COVID-19 financial aid took the opposite view. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin reported headway Thursday on the package from the bipartisan senators’ group. “I think we’re making a lot of progress,” Mnuchin said.
A one-week stop-gap measure to prevent a federal shutdown appears to have sapped some urgency from the talks. The short-term government-wide funding bill, approved by the House on Wednesday, needs to clear the Senate before Friday at midnight to avert a partial closure.
The next deadline would be Dec. 18, but both House and Senate leaders say they won’t adjourn without passing an aid measure. But many Republicans have long viewed the state and local aid as a bailout they would have trouble supporting.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who is sending lawmakers home while talks continue, said Congress would keep working up to or after Christmas. The new Congress is being sworn in on Jan. 3.
“Now if we need more time then we take more time, but we have to have a bill and we cannot go home without it,” Pelosi said. She also gave an upbeat assessment on the talks.
McConnell has proposed a five-year liability shield from virus lawsuits, retroactive to December 2019, but the bipartisan group was eyeing a scaledback shield of six months to a year. Labor and civil rights groups oppose any shield, which they say strips essential workers of potential legal recourse as they take risks during the pandemic.
The Trump administration is back in the middle of the negotiations with a $916 billion plan. It would send a $600 direct payment to most Americans but eliminate a $300-per-week employment benefit favored by the bipartisan group of Senate negotiators.