Biden team seeks to build support for aid package
A bipartisan group of lawmakers met virtually with administration officials on Sunday to discuss vaccine distribution and elements of President Biden’s $1.9 trillion stimulus plan, pressing for a more targeted approach as the administration works to address the country’s faltering economy.
The discussion with members of the Biden administration, including Brian Deese, director of the National Economic Council, Jeffrey Zients as the official COVID19 response coordinator and Louisa Terrell, the head of the White House Office of Legislative Affairs, focused on how Biden and his team settled on the overall figures and whether the administration could provide additional data to corroborate the proposal.
Lawmakers in both parties raised the prospect of curtailing elements of the plan, including the eligibility for a suggested round of $1,400 checks and ensuring that it is a targeted distribution of additional aid, according to multiple people familiar with the discussion.
The $1.9 trillion proposal Biden unveiled this month is more than twice the size of the package Congress approved in the final month of the Trump administration, and it is designed to build on that measure with additional aid for state and local governments, a round of $1,400 stimulus checks and increased unemployment benefits. The proposal would also provide for an increase in the federal minimum wage to $15 from $7.25, where it has been since 2009.
Several Republicans have signaled reluctance to approve another sweeping financial rescue package after pouring more than $3 trillion into economic recovery in the last year. And with the second impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump set to begin in the coming weeks, Biden’s proposal could be further delayed.
The Zoom call with more than a dozen lawmakers lasted for more than an hour Sunday.
“There was a genuine desire on the part of the White House to achieve a bipartisan proposal,” said Sen. Angus King, IMaine. On the call, he added, “you wouldn’t have been able to tell who was which party.”
The group included several of the lawmakers who helped jumpstart stalled negotiations over the $900 billion package approved in late December, including Sens. Susan Collins, RMaine; Joe Manchin, DW.Va.; Mark Warner, DVa.; and Mitt Romney, RUtah. Reps. Josh Gottheimer, DN.J., and Tom Reed, RN.Y., also joined the call, as the leaders of the bipartisan House Problem Solvers Caucus.
Lawmakers agreed that the country’s vaccine distribution needed to be improved, including providing additional funds for production, distribution, officials administering the vaccine, and figuring out where, as King put it, the “bottlenecks” were in ensuring people received the vaccines.
“They were pretty noncommittal in general, I would say. But to be fair to them, this was their opportunity to hear from us,” Collins said in an interview. “I appreciate that they were willing to outline their plan in more detail — if there is going to be a bipartisan COVID package,
it’s really important that they hear the concerns” of lawmakers.
There was also discussion about the administration’s proposal for funding schools, state and local governments, and child care.
Karine JeanPierre, the principal deputy White House press secretary, said Sunday that “we’re going to continue making that bipartisan push and that bipartisan effort” and that the meeting would be one of many efforts to corral support for Biden’s proposal.