10 GOP senators propose $600B package
New plan would cut stimulus checks to $1K
WASHINGTON — Ten Republican senators announced plans Sunday to release an approximately $600 billion coronavirus relief package as a counterproposal to President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion plan, posing a test for the new president who campaigned as a bipartisan deal-maker.
The senators, led by Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said they would formally unveil the package Monday. In a letter to Mr. Biden, they requested to meet with him and said they were offering their proposal in recognition of his “calls for unity.”
Mr. Biden spoke to Ms. Collins and has invited the Republican lawmakers to the White House “for a full exchange of views” early this week, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in a Sunday night statement.
The potential bipartisan discussion comes as Democrats prepare to move forward Monday to set up a partisan path forward for Mr. Biden’s larger relief bill, which Republicans have dismissed as overly
costly given some $4 trillion Congress has already committed to fighting the pandemic, including $900 billion in December.
The GOP proposal jettisons certain elements that have drawn Republican opposition, such as increasing the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour.
It would also reduce the size of a new round of checks Mr. Biden wants to send to Americans — from $1,400 per individual to $1,000 — while significantly reducing the income limits that determine eligibility for the stimulus payments.
A $600 billion plan that is a fraction of the size of Mr. Biden’s proposal is unlikely to draw much, if any, Democratic support. However, the GOP offer presents a challenge for Mr. Biden, who campaigned on promises to unify Congress and the country and now must decide whether to ignore the GOP overture or to make a
genuine effort to find common ground across the aisle.
Top Biden economic adviser Brian Deese said on CNN’s “State of the Union” that the White House had received the Republicans’ letter and would review it. But he emphasized time was of the essence and refused to say whether Mr. Biden was open to entertaining a smaller overall price tag.
“The president is uncompromising when it comes to the speed that we need to act at to address this crisis,” Mr. Deese said. “The provisions of the president’s plan, the American Rescue Plan, are calibrated to the economic crisis that we face.”
The White House is pushing its plan amid signs of a broader economic slowdown and a continued wave of enormously high unemployment
claims of close to 1 million per week.
Because the Senate is split 50-50 between Republicans and Democrats, it is significant that Republicans assembled 10 lawmakers to get behind the proposal. That means that, if Democrats were to join them, they could reach the 60-vote threshold necessary to pass legislation under regular Senate procedures.