Progress slow on virus relief bill
WASHINGTON — Negotiators on a coronavirus relief bill reported slight progress after talks resumed Monday afternoon in the Capitol, with issues like food for the poor and aid to schools struggling to reopen safely assuming a higher profile in the talks.
Multiple obstacles remain, including an impasse so far on extending a $600-per-week jobless benefit, funding for the Postal Service and aid to renters facing eviction.
Several more days of talks are expected as lawmakers seek to deliver what will likely be the final legislative response to the pandemic before the November election.
After the meeting, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told her Democratic colleagues on a call that she’s hopeful a deal could be reached this week but doesn’t know if it’s possible, according to a Democratic aide who was granted anonymity to describe the private discussion.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, a lead negotiator for President Donald Trump, said afterward that “we continue to make a little bit of progress” and that the administration is not insistent on a small-bore approach centered on extending the supplemental unemployment benefit and leaving other items for later. A GOP move to advance a narrower relief package has been a point of conflict, with Democrats insisting there must be a comprehensive deal.
Speaking to reporters after the two-hour session, Democratic negotiators pressed the case for additional food aid, funding for the Postal Service and the $600-per-week jobless benefit that lapsed last week. The benefit has helped prop up the economy and family budgets as the coronavirus has wrought havoc.
The White House is seeking opportunities to boost Mr. Trump, like providing another round of $1,200 stimulus payments and extending the supplemental jobless benefit and partial eviction ban. Ms. Pelosi appears intent on an agreement as well, but she’s made it clear she needs big money for state and local governments, unemployment benefits and food aid.
“It was productive; we’re moving down the track. We still have our differences. We are trying to have a clearer understanding of what the needs are, and the needs are that millions of children in our country are food insecure,” Ms. Pelosi said. “Millions of people in our country are concerned about being evicted. Tens of millions of people are on unemployment insurance.”
Most members of the Democratic-controlled House have left Washington and won’t return until there is an agreement to vote on, but the GOP-held Senate is trapped in the capital. Several senators said they expect the process to drag into next week, when they are scheduled to leave for the August recess.
“I can’t see how we can go home and tell people we’ve failed, so I think that’s going to be a lot of pressure on everybody to come up with something,” said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas. “It really is a matter of will. It’s not a matter of substance at this point. This is just a painful period between people finally deciding, ‘OK, we want a deal,’ and then what that deal will ultimately look like.”
Areas of agreement already include the $1,200 direct payment and changes to the Paycheck Protection Program to permit hard-hit businesses to obtain another loan under generous forgiveness terms.
But the terms and structure of the unemployment benefit have remained a sticking point, along with the money for state and local governments. Democrats want almost $1 trillion for localities grappling with pandemic-related revenue losses.
Speaking to reporters Monday evening, Mr. Trump made clear the two sides were still far apart on that issue.
“They want to bail out cities and states that have been in trouble for years of bad management,” he said. “In all cases Democrat-run cities, and we don’t think that’s fair.”
Mr. Trump said he’s looking at steps he can take with executive orders on issues like stopping evictions, claiming Democrats aren’t serious about negotiating.
“A lot of people are going to be evicted, but I’m going to stop it, because I’ll do it myself if I have to,” he told reporters at an event at the White House. “I have a lot of powers with respect to executive orders, and we’re looking at that very seriously right now.”
He didn’t specify what any of those powers were, though.
Mr. Trump’s comments came after it was reported earlier Monday that his administration was eyeing steps it could take unilaterally if no deal is reached on Capitol Hill. It’s unclear what those might be, but the discussions are a reflection of officials’ increasingly pessimistic outlook for the talks with congressional Democrats.
It’s unclear what the administration could do without Congress on lapsed enhanced unemployment benefits or the expired moratorium on evictions — matters Mr. Trump has identified as his highest priorities. Those programs were authorized by Congress this year, but they were designed to be temporary.
Mr. Trump was asked Monday why he wasn’t personally taking part in the talks; he tried to insult Ms. Pelosi before insisting that he was involved.
Ms. Pelosi said she’d consider reducing the $600 benefit for people in states with lower unemployment rates.
Another sticking point is that Republicans want to give more school aid to systems that are restarting with inschool learning, even as Dr. Deborah Birx, Mr. Trump’s top coronavirus adviser, cautioned that schools in areas with spikes in cases should delay reopening.