Senate GOP to Counter House’s Postal Bill with Broader Virus Aid Package

August 19, 2020by Paul M. Krawzak, CQ-Roll Call (TNS)
Senate GOP to Counter House’s Postal Bill with Broader Virus Aid Package
The U.S. Capitol, Aug. 5, 2020. (Photo by Dan McCue)

WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans are planning to roll out a “skinny” version of their eight-bill COVID-19 aid package with $10 billion added for the U.S. Postal Service as early as this week.

The legislation will be composed of provisions that are popular in the GOP conference, and will likely leave out some of the pieces in the earlier suite of bills that didn’t enjoy unified support, according to sources familiar with the talks.

Components of the bill will include money for unemployment benefits, schools, virus testing and small business relief, including an extension of the Paycheck Protection Program, which expired Aug. 8.

The package also could include a new round of $1,200 tax rebates to individuals, as in the March relief law, but it wasn’t clear whether that provision would make it into the new GOP bill. White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows suggested over the weekend that another round of direct payments to households, among other aid provisions, should be included in any attempt to provide Postal Service funds.

The measure is also expected to include liability protections for businesses and schools that reopen, as well as health care providers. The package Republicans introduced in July also contained liability shield legislation.

The rollout is in part a Republican response to House plans to come back into session on Saturday to vote on a bill providing $25 billion for the cash-strapped Postal Service, which is contending with record volume and controversy surrounding mail-in ballots for the November elections. That’s the figure recommended by the service’s board of governors, Democrats argue.

The Senate GOP bill this week will counter with $10 billion for the Postal Service, according to Republican aides who were not authorized to speak publicly. That’s the figure that top administration officials have offered in talks with Democratic leaders, which represents what they believe to be a concession since postal officials have said they have sufficient funds to get through August 2021.

The bill the House will vote on Saturday also would block operational changes Postal Service leaders have signaled since Jan. 1, 2020, including restrictions on new hires, overtime pay, service delays and post office closures.

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee announced Tuesday that Postmaster General Louis DeJoy will testify Friday before that panel. DeJoy already was scheduled to appear Monday before the House Oversight and Reform Committee.

Republicans will argue that they are trying to provide more COVID-19 and postal aid while Democrats remain intransigent in the broader coronavirus relief negotiations. Democrats have previously said they objected to a “skinny” plan that doesn’t deal comprehensively with pandemic-related economic and health care needs.

“The Democrats had been saying, ‘We’re not going to do anything piecemeal,’ and then they’re going to come back and do something piecemeal,” one GOP Senate aide said, referring to the House’s standalone Postal Service bill. “In a way it undercuts their argument.”

The GOP aide said the Republican bill will not have “everything that House Democrats passed in their messaging bill, but it’s a lot of what people need and it could actually get done and signed by the president if the Democrats are willing to cooperate on it.”

The so-called skinny plan might still contain hundreds of billions of dollars in new relief measures. Provisions floated for the revised version, when previously introduced by Senate Republicans last month, were estimated at over $700 billion in a preliminary tally by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.

The bill will not be formally introduced because the Senate is not in session. But it is being advanced as preparation for trying to reach a deal with House and Senate Democrats to pass a COVID-19 aid bill attached to a stopgap funding resolution in September.

It wasn’t immediately clear what level of jobless aid the Senate GOP bill would provide. The previous Senate package included a $200 weekly supplemental federal unemployment insurance benefit, but the White House has signaled it would go as high as $400. Democrats are pushing to renew the $600 weekly add-on that expired last month.

President Donald Trump on Aug. 8 moved to establish a system where states could apply for up to $44 billion in Federal Emergency Management Agency funds to provide laid-off workers with a $300 weekly supplement.

FEMA guidance this week said the earliest most states would able to distribute benefits is Aug. 29, and that the money will only cover three weeks of initial benefits to ensure other states can get funding they are approved for. And the money will only last as long as FEMA has enough to contend with potential natural disasters. One source familiar with the talks said the revised Senate GOP bill could ensure the $300 weekly benefit is available through December.

It wasn’t clear whether the Senate GOP offering would provide any additional direct state and local government aid. The House bill would provide almost $1 trillion in state and local aid, several times the $150 billion figure the White House has said it would support. Republicans argue also that direct education funds for states and localities would help address one of their biggest budgetary holes.

Talks broke off last week, with Democrats demanding that Republicans agree to at least $2 trillion in a broader aid bill, or roughly twice the size of the initial Senate GOP package offered last month. Democrats said that was a major concession given the nearly $3.4 trillion size of their bill that passed the House in May.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and other administration officials have said the White House couldn’t agree to a $2 trillion price tag in advance of restarting formal talks, arguing the various provisions should be negotiated on their own merits.

National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow told reporters Aug. 13 that Speaker Nancy Pelosi “wants a $2 trillion commitment from us” and “we are not going to give it.”

———

©2020 CQ-Roll Call, Inc., All Rights Reserved

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

A+
a-
  • coronavirus relief package
  • Democrats
  • Postal Services
  • Republicans
  • U.S. House of Representatives
  • U.S. Senate
  • In The News

    Health

    Voting

    Political News

    March 28, 2024
    by Dan McCue
    Elections Task Force Prosecutes 2020 ‘Vigilantes,’ Seeks More Civic Dialogue

    PHOENIX, Ariz. — A 46-year-old Ohio man has been sentenced to 30 months in prison for sending death threats to... Read More

    PHOENIX, Ariz. — A 46-year-old Ohio man has been sentenced to 30 months in prison for sending death threats to an Arizona election official. The sentencing of Joshua Russell, of Bucyrus, Ohio, came after he pleaded guilty to one count of making a threatening interstate communication.... Read More

    March 28, 2024
    by Dan McCue
    Vice President Harris Rolls Out First Government-Wide Policy to Mitigate AI Risks

    WASHINGTON — Vice President Kamala Harris on Wednesday rolled out the Biden administration’s first government-wide policy intended to mitigate the... Read More

    WASHINGTON — Vice President Kamala Harris on Wednesday rolled out the Biden administration’s first government-wide policy intended to mitigate the risks associated with artificial intelligence while still enabling its use to advance the public interest. The new policy, which is being issued through the White House... Read More

    March 27, 2024
    by Dan McCue
    New Dem Chair Kuster Announces Retirement Following 2024 Election

    CONCORD, N.H. — Rep. Annie Kuster, D-N.H., who, among other things, is the current chair of the New Democrat Coalition... Read More

    CONCORD, N.H. — Rep. Annie Kuster, D-N.H., who, among other things, is the current chair of the New Democrat Coalition in the House, revealed Wednesday that she will not seek reelection to Congress this year. In a lengthy statement released by her office, Kuster gives no... Read More

    March 25, 2024
    by Dan McCue
    CPAC Releases Ranking of Most Conservative Members of Congress

    WASHINGTON — The Conservative Political Action Conference, also known as CPAC, on Monday released its annual ranking of members of... Read More

    WASHINGTON — The Conservative Political Action Conference, also known as CPAC, on Monday released its annual ranking of members of the House and Senate based on their conservative bona fides or lack thereof. To produce this year’s scorecard, the CPAC foundation’s Center for Legislative Accountability analyzed... Read More

    March 22, 2024
    by Dan McCue
    After a Decade on Capitol Hill, Brad Howard Steps Out on His Own

    WASHINGTON — After a decade on Capitol Hill, most recently as chief of staff for former Rep. Stephanie Murphy, D-Fla.,... Read More

    WASHINGTON — After a decade on Capitol Hill, most recently as chief of staff for former Rep. Stephanie Murphy, D-Fla., and communications director of the Blue Dog Coalition, Brad Howard knew it was time for change. “It was time to move into the private sector,” he... Read More

    March 22, 2024
    by Dan McCue
    Greene Files Motion to Vacate Speaker’s Chair

    WASHINGTON — For the second time in five months, a member of the Republican Conference in the House has filed... Read More

    WASHINGTON — For the second time in five months, a member of the Republican Conference in the House has filed a motion to vacate the chair of the party’s speaker. But this time, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., says the motion is intended merely as a... Read More

    News From The Well
    scroll top