Lawmakers buy time for more COVID relief talks

WASHINGTON — Still spinning their wheels on COVID19 relief, lawmakers grabbed a oneweek government funding extension on Wednesday that buys time for more talks — though there is considerable disagreement over who is supposed to be taking the lead from there.

Amid the uncertainty, the House easily passed a oneweek governmentwide funding bill that sets a new Dec. 18 deadline for Congress to wrap up both the COVID19 relief measure and a $ 1.4 trillion catchall spending bill that is also overdue. The 34367 vote sent the oneweek bill to the Senate, where it’s expected to easily pass before a deadline of midnight Friday to avert a partial government shutdown.

The measure would give lawmakers more time to sort through the hot mess they have created for themselves after months of futile negotiations and posturing and recent rounds of flipflopping.

Top GOP leaders said the right people to handle endgame negotiations are the top four leaders of Congress and the Trump administration, focused on a proposal by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to eliminate a Democratic demand for a $ 160 billion or so aid package for state and local governments.

Top Democrats, meanwhile, are placing their bets on a bipartisan group of senators who are trying to iron out a $ 908 billion package. The bipartisan group is getting no encouragement from McConnell, but members are claiming progress on perhaps the most contentious item, a demand by the Kentucky Republican to award businesses and other organizations protections against COVID related lawsuits.

The Trump administration is back in the middle of the negotiations, offering a $ 916 billion package on Tuesday that would send a $ 600 direct payment to most Americans but eliminate a $ 300perweek employment benefit favored by the bipartisan group of Senate negotiators.