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COVID-19 Update: Federal Developments – Congress

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COVID-19 Update: Federal Developments – Congress COVID-19 Update: Federal Developments – Congress Congress News Notes • Leaders on Capitol Hill have said for days they are close to a deal on a $900 billion COVID-19 relief proposal that would accompany a $1.4 trillion spending bill. Lawmakers may move to pass another short-term funding measure to keep the government running while they go through the process of writing a COVID-19 relief package and pushing it through both chambers of Congress. Federal funding will lapse at 12:01 a.m. EST on Saturday unless a deal can be made. Congressional leaders have pledged to work through the weekend and pass a bill before they head home for the holidays. • Negotiations over a $900 billion coronavirus relief bill are running into eleventh-hour snags, threatening to push Congress into a rare weekend session. In addition, lawmakers had hoped to clinch on December 16 a sweeping spending deal, which would also fund the government through Oct. 1, after the top four congressional leaders signaled that they were closing in on an agreement after months of stalemate. But instead lawmakers and staff warned that while they still thought they would get the agreement, the final stages of the talks are moving slowly as they continue to haggle over the details on both the COVID package and the spending deal which they hope to pass together. Aid for state and local governments and liability protections for businesses that remained operational through the pandemic are not expected to make it into the final package as Republicans and Democrats could not bridge the huge gap on their differences in those key areas. • Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Ala., said on December 17 that he tested positive for COVID-19, making him the fourth House member during the week alone to reveal they contracted the virus. • South Carolina Rep. Joe Wilson, R, on Wednesday announced that he tested positive for COVID-19 just hours after speaking on the House floor about the Trump administration’s Operation Warp Speed and the beginnings of vaccine distribution across the country. • Congressional negotiators are on the brink of a coronavirus relief deal that would include a second round of direct payments and boost unemployment benefits, but would leave out state and local funding and a liability shield, according to lawmakers and sources briefed on the talks. The price tag of the emerging agreement is roughly $900 billion, and a deal could be finalized on Wednesday, those sources said. Senate Majority Whip John Thune, R-S.D., said the proposal would likely include direct checks to individuals of $600 to $700 and a weekly unemployment boost of $300 through March. • Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., invited congressional leaders to a meeting in her office on December 15 in a bid to break the months-long stalemate over coronavirus relief negotiations. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., 1 COVID-19 Update: Federal Developments – Congress Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., have all been invited. The outreach comes with the window quickly closing to reach a much-needed agreement before lawmakers are scheduled to depart for the holidays at the end of te week of December 13. • Lawmakers also are negotiating an end-of-year spending package. Talks may see both bills combined, but outstanding issues on the COVID relief bill,liability protections and state and local funding remain. The latter may be jettisoned until the 117th Congress convenes in January. • Rep. Ken Calvert, R-Calif., revealed on December 15 that he tested positive for COVID-19 in late November but has since recovered. • Lawmakers passed a continuing resolution (CR) to run for one week giving them additional time to work out details on the omnibus spending bill and settle outstanding issues on a COVID-19 relief package before government funding and relief programs expire. COVID-19 relief talks are ongoing. Meanwhile a bi-partisan centrist group unveiled a two-part package as separate bills – one dealing with state and local aid ($160 billion) and providing liability protection and the other refilling PPP coffers and providing other assistance. Still, no deal has yet been reached, although House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., is slated to continue talks with Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin. • Rep. Bill Pascrell, D-N.J., is asking House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., to refuse to seat members of the next Congress who back President Trump’s effort to challenge the election. The demand comes as more than 120 House Republicans, including Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., have signed an amicus brief supporting Texas’s election lawsuit in the Supreme Court. The suit is asking the court to prevent Electors from finalizing President-elect Joe Biden’s victory in Georgia, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan. • The Senate cleared a one-week government funding bill on Friday by voice vote, forestalling the threat of a government shutdown at midnight and capping off hours of drama after several senators threatened to hold up the resolution. The last-minute agreement to fast-track the short-term funding fix came after a handful of senators dropped efforts to tack on other provisions. The measure, which passed the House on Wednesday, now heads to President Donald Trump for his signature. It buys congressional negotiators a little more time to finish up talks on a $1.4 trillion omnibus spending package (and possibly a deal on COVID-19 relief) that would boost federal agency budgets for the rest of the fiscal year, in addition to billions of dollars in pandemic aid that millions of Americans will lose over the holidays. • It looks like Congress may be in Washington D.C., late into the Christmas season because they have yet to resolve its intractable differences on a COVID-19 relief deal. We are 8 days before the government funding runs out, and there is no relief deal, and no agreement in sight. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., is putting out word that an emerging bipartisan Senate deal will not work for Senate Republicans, while Democrats have shot down other suggestions this week, including the White House’s $916 billion proposal. Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., this morning once again announced that she isn’t leaving without a deal. House Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., is planning to send lawmakers home until Tuesday. It’s likely that many of them stay home and vote by proxy. Negotiators and Hill leaders 2 COVID-19 Update: Federal Developments – Congress are trying to have the COVID-19 stimulus bill ride on the government funding package, which comes due Dec. 18. But Speaker Pelosi suggested the real deadline was Dec. 26, when unemployment benefits cut off. • The House passed a one-week stopgap spending bill on Wednesday, Dec. 9 in a 343-67 vote, shifting the government funding deadline from Friday at midnight to Dec. 18. The bill passed under suspension of the rules, meaning it required two-thirds of the lower chamber’s approval. The measure, H.R. 8900 (116), now heads to the Senate, which is expected to take it up today. • Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chair Ron Johnson, R-Wis., has noticed a hearing on election irregularities, angering Senate Democrats. The hearing is scheduled to take place on Wednesday, just two days after members of the Electoral College meet to cast their 306 electoral votes for President-elect Joe Biden. In a statement announcing the hearing, Johnson said that “a large percentage of the American public does not view the 2020 election result as legitimate because of apparent irregularities that have not been fully examined. That is not a sustainable state of affairs for our country. The only way to resolve suspicions is with full transparency and public awareness. That will be the goal of the hearing.” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has come out against the hearing, calling it “ridiculous.” • Senate Democrats will allow Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., to become Ranking Member of the powerful Judiciary Committee while holding on to his post in leadership. In a secret-ballot vote held Wednesday, Dec. 9 senators approved a caucus rule change from Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., that would let the whip hold a committee leadership position, meaning Durbin can serve in both positions, though he will be required to relinquish the top spot on an appropriations subcommittee. • The Congressional Progressive Caucus announced its senior leadership team for the new Congress, also known as the “CPC Executive Board.” The board includes Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., as chair, Rep. Katie Porter, D-Calif., as deputy chair and Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., as whip. Meanwhile, the conservative Republican Study Committee also announced its leadership team. The Executive Committee includes Reps. Jim Banks, R-Ind., Steve Scalise, R-La., Mike Johnson, R-La., Jeff Duncan, R-S.C., and Brad Wenstrup, R-Ohio. • House and Senate leaders are still struggling to make progress over another round of COVID relief as the pressure builds, with 12 million Americans set to lose their unemployment benefits on December 26. State and local government funding and business liability from coronavirus-related lawsuits continue to be the biggest — and thorniest — remaining issues in the relief package. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., in a departure from his longstanding position, offered to drop liability reforms if the Democrats would drop state and local funding. Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., was quick to shoot down this offer. A bipartisan group of lawmakers pushing a $908 billion coronavirus relief package reached on December 9 a broader framework for their measure, but details on liability and state and local aid have yet to be finalized.
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