Dems, GOP far apart as virus aid talks intensify

Negotiators face Friday deadline

Lisa Mascaro
The Associated Press
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky., during a news conference on on Capitol Hill in Washington, Monday to highlight their proposal for the next coronavirus stimulus bill. McConnell is joined by, from left, Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah.

WASHINGTON — The differences over the next coronavirus aid package are vast: Democrats propose $3 trillion in relief and Republicans have a $1 trillion counteroffer. At stake are millions of Americans' jobless benefits, school reopenings and eviction protections.

As top White House negotiators return to Capitol Hill on Tuesday, the leverage is apparent. They are meeting at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office. Republicans are so deeply divided over the prospect of big government spending it's leaving Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell with a weakened hand.

Striking any agreement between Congress and President Donald Trump by Friday's deadline for expiring aid will be daunting.

"We cannot afford to fail," Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said.


But McConnell acknowledged the limits with Republicans split: "We've done the best we can."


Republicans defend cuts to unemployment assistance, saying the federal supplement is too generous, on top of state benefits, and people should not be paid more while they are at home than they would if they were on the job.

"The American people don't call that a controversy, they call that common sense," McConnell said.

Pelosi dismissed the GOP's approach as "wrong" and Schumer responded by waving a copy of a New York newspaper on the Senate floor with the headline summing up the Republican attitude as: "Let them eat cake."


Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and White House chief of staff Mark Meadows returned to Capitol Hill for a second day of talks with Pelosi and Schumer.

They also heard an earful during a private GOP lunch. Half the Republican senators are expected to oppose any bill.

"We're a long way apart," acknowledged Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., the chairman of the Appropriations Committee.







"We're in a war, OK, with the virus," Graham said at the Capitol. "And if you don't think we need money for hospitals and doctors you're not looking at the same movie I'm looking at."


But Democrats also add a "heroes' pay" bonus for front-line essential workers, money food stamps and other assistance that Republicans do not provide.

The Republicans come to the negotiating table hobbled by infighting and delays. Conservative Republicans quickly broke ranks arguing the spending was too much and priorities misplaced.

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky. scoffed that McConnell's bill was sure to win support — from Democrats.

"He has all the Democrats on his side," Paul said.

Republicans were scrambling to justify providing $1.7 billion for a new FBI headquarters in Washington, a non-pandemic-related expense that's a top priority of the president but not of lawmakers or McConnell. Trump's hotel is across the street from it on Pennsylvania Avenue. Keeping the property in federal hands, rather than relocating the FBI to neighboring Maryland or Virginia as some propose, prevents competing hotels on the prime downtown corner.

As bipartisan talks unfold, the White House has suggested a narrower relief package may be all that's possible. Democrats have dismissed that as too meager. And a top Republican, Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, said, "I haven't heard any support for that."


Under the GOP proposal, the jobless boost would be reduced to $200 a week for two months through September and phased out to a new system that ensures no more than 70% of an employee's previous pay. States could request an additional two months, if needed, to make the transition.

Economists widely see signs of trouble in the economy, which showed an uptick in the spring as some states eased stay-home orders and businesses reopened, but it now faces fresh uncertainty as states clamp down.