McConnell: Senate to vote on trimmed down coronavirus aid bill

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, under pressure from GOP senators in tough re-election races, said on Tuesday the Senate would vote on a trimmed-down Republican coronavirus relief package, though it has a slim chance of passage in the face of Democrats’ insistence on more sweeping aid.

“The Senate Republican majority is introducing a new targeted proposal, focused on some of the very most urgent healthcare, education, and economic issues,” McConnell said in a statement.

The GOP leader acknowledged the package he will be putting forward “does not contain every idea our party likes”, and he said it was far less than what Democrats are seeking.

“Yet Republicans believe the many serious differences between our two parties should not stand in the way of agreeing where we can agree,” he said.

The move comes as legislators straggle back to Washington for an abbreviated pre-election session, as hopes are dimming for another coronavirus relief bill – or much else. 

Several Republican senators in tough re-election bids are eager to show constituents they are working to ease the pandemic’s strain on jobs, businesses and healthcare. But many Senate Republicans are resisting more spending.

Scaled-back bill

McConnell’s move on Tuesday would clear the way for a Thursday test vote in which the $500bn scaled-back bill – roughly half the size of a measure McConnell unveiled earlier this year – is sure to be blocked by Democrats. 

McConnell’s bill would provide $105bn to help schools reopen, enact a shield against lawsuits for businesses and others that are powering ahead to reopen, create a scaled-back $300-a-week supplemental jobless benefit, and write off $10bn in earlier post office debt.

There is $29bn for a coronavirus vaccine, $16bn for virus testing and $15bn to help child care providers reopen. There is an additional $20bn for farmers.

The package will also include a school choice initiative sought by Texas GOP Senator Ted Cruz and others that would provide a tax break, for two years, for people who donate to nonprofit organisations offering private school scholarships.

But it will not contain another round of $1,200 direct payments going out under Trump’s name. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, continues to demand $2.2 trillion, and while Trump’s negotiators have signalled a willingness to inch further in her direction, a significant gap remains.

Talks between top Democrats and the Trump administration broke off last month and remain off track, with the bipartisan unity that drove almost $3 trillion in COVID-19 rescue legislation into law this spring replaced by toxic partisanship and a return to Washington dysfunction. 

Expectations in July and August that a fifth bipartisan pandemic response bill would eventually be birthed despite increased obstacles has been replaced by genuine pessimism. Recent COVID-related conversations among key players have led to nothing. 

Little indication bill will pass

Democrats seem secure in their political position, with President Donald Trump and several Senate GOP incumbents lagging in the polls. Trump is seeking to sideline the pandemic as a campaign issue, and Republicans are not interested in a deal on Democratic terms – even as needs like school aid enjoy widespread support.

Poisonous relationships among key leaders like Pelosi and White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows give little reason for confidence about overcoming obstacles on the cost, scope and details of a potential relief bill. Pelosi recently referred to Meadows as “whatever his name is”, while the Meadows-run White House during a press briefing ran a video loop of Pelosi’s controversial visit to a San Francisco hair salon.

Trump said on Monday Democrats “don’t want to make a deal because they think that if the country does as badly as possible … that’s good for the Democrats.”

“I am taking the high road,” he told reporters at the White House. “I’m taking the high road by not seeing them.”

All of this imperils the chances for another round of $1,200 direct payments, the restoration of more generous unemployment benefits to those who have lost their jobs because of the pandemic, updates to a popular business subsidy programme, and money to help schools reopen and states and local governments avoid layoffs.

“I personally would like to see one more rescue package, but I must tell you the environment in Washington right now is exceedingly partisan because of the proximity to the election,” said McConnell at an appearance in Kentucky last week. “We’ve been in discussion now for the last month or so with no results so far. So I can’t promise one final package.″

Republicans wary of debt

Many Senate Republicans are also wary or opposed outright to another large chunk of debt-financed virus relief, even as GOP senators imperilled in the election like Susan Collins of Maine and Cory Gardner of Colorado plead for more. Republicans are struggling to coalesce around a unified party position – and that is before they engage with Democratic leaders, who are demanding far more.

The relationship between Pelosi and her preferred negotiating partner, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, is civil but is not generating much in the way of results, other than a promise to avoid a government shutdown at the end of the month by keeping a government-wide temporary spending bill free of controversy. That measure is likely to keep the government running into December. It is likely to contain a bunch of lower-profile steps, such as an extension of the federal flood insurance program and a temporary reauthorization of spending from the highway trust fund. 

But if talks continue to falter, there is little to keep legislators in Washington long, particularly with the election fast approaching.

The Senate returns on Tuesday to resume its diet of judicial and administration nominations. The House does not come back until September 14 for a schedule laden with lower-profile measures such as clean energy legislation and a bill to decriminalise cannabis. Some Democrats are expected to continue to take advantage of remote voting and may not return to Washington at all.