WASHINGTON -- Democrats refused to rubber-stamp President Donald Trump's proposal for $250 billion more to boost small businesses, demanding modifications along with an additional $250 billion for health care providers and states. Republicans wouldn't go along.
GOP leader Mitch McConnell sought to keep Thursday's debate limited to Trump's request and wouldn't accept Democratic additions.
The White House had asked lawmakers to move in the interim to quickly inject more money into a new loan program intended to keep small businesses afloat and allow them to avoid laying off workers as the pandemic continues to batter the economy.
But Democrats argued that as long as Congress was providing additional aid, it should include more money for hospitals, states and cities confronting the coronavirus, as well as additional food assistance for Americans coping with its economic toll.
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Republicans said the time for negotiating such additions was later.
"My colleagues must not treat working Americans as political hostages," McConnell said. With the Senate not scheduled to return until April 20, he added, lawmakers should have "focused discussions on urgent subjects without turning every conversation into a conversation about everything."
Democrats and Republicans agree that the aid is urgently needed and talks are sure to continue, but it reinforces that Congress and the White House will need to find bipartisan agreement -- especially with lawmakers scattered in their states and districts and both the House and Senate unable to conduct roll-call votes.
"Nobody thinks this will be the Senate's last word on covid-19," McConnell said. "Let's continue to work together, with speed and bipartisanship. We will get through this crisis together."
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PELOSI SEES 'STUNT'
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi declared the Senate vote merely a "stunt" as the country faces an "epic" crisis. She ridiculed the administration for trying to jam a $250 billion request through Congress with 48 hours notice with little data to back it up.
"Really?" Pelosi said on a conference call with reporters.
During an exchange on the Senate floor, McConnell attempted to push through the $250 billion funding during a procedural session, a maneuver that would have required the support of all senators. Democrats objected as promised and proposed doubling that request by adding $100 billion for hospitals and $150 billion for state and local governments.
Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin, D-Md., called McConnell's move a "political stunt."
"There was no effort made to follow the process that we could to get this done, so it won't get done," said Cardin, one of the architects of the small-business loan program, which has bipartisan support.
When Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., countered with the Democrats' proposal, McConnell blocked it, ensuring that the Senate could not move forward on the issue until another procedural session scheduled for Monday.
"I am literally talking about deleting the number 350 and writing 600 in its place. ... That's all we're suggesting here today," McConnell told Cardin and Van Hollen. "Please do not block emergency aid you do not even oppose just because you want something more."
Van Hollen displayed newspaper headlines documenting problems with the Paycheck Protection Program rollout that Democrats want to address.
"What we're saying here today is 'yes, we know we need more money for this program,' many of us predicted this before we passed the CARES Act," Van Hollen said, referring to the $2 trillion rescue bill enacted two weeks ago. "But for goodness sakes, let's take the opportunity to make some bipartisan fixes to allow this program to work better for the very people it's designed to help."
After Democrats blocked his unanimous consent request Thursday, McConnell told reporters that lawmakers would "have to continue the discussion" in the days ahead. The events took place with the Capitol empty, a small group of reporters standing feet away from McConnell and stretching out recording devices to capture his words, some wearing face masks as they did so.
NEGOTIATIONS GO ON
The stall comes as communities across the nation strain to meet health care needs and salvage local economies pummeled by the crisis. A new jobless report shows 16.8 million Americans are now out of work.
The infusions of federal cash are intended as a patch to help the $21 trillion U.S. economy through the current recession, which is causing an economic contraction and a spike in joblessness that is overwhelming many state systems for delivering unemployment benefits.
With Congress all but shuttered, lawmakers pledged to keep negotiating with the White House.
McConnell and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin say the "paycheck protection" program, which involves direct subsidies to companies to keep employees on payroll and pay company rent, is on track to quickly deplete its first $350 billion infusion as businesses rush to apply for the aid.
"The president has been very clear, he's happy to talk about other issues such as hospitals and states in the next bill, but we wanted to go and get money for the small-business program," Mnuchin said Thursday in an interview with CNBC.
Democrats are not opposed to boosting the payroll fund, but they want to ensure that the new program delivers benefits to businesses in minority communities that are often underserved by traditional lenders.
"What the secretary requested and the bill that the Senate majority leader brought to the floor would never pass the House," Pelosi said. "It is a basis for some negotiation."
"There is a disparity in access to capital in our country. We do not want this tragedy of the coronavirus to exacerbate that disparity," she said. She added that "everything is an opportunity," and Democrats hoped to use negotiations to diminish disparities in society.
Democrats are pressing for half of the White House request, or $125 billion, to be channeled through community-based financial institutions that serve farmers and family-, women-, minority- and veteran-owned small businesses and nonprofits in rural, tribal, suburban and urban communities.
They circulated a $500 billion plan that would include the Trump request and add $100 billion for hospitals and other health care providers and $150 billion to state and local governments, as well as a 15% boost in food stamp benefits.
With Capitol Hill virtually shut down, legislation is most easily passed through unanimous agreement, which is often not an easy task.
Another complication is lone wolf Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, who promises to block efforts to pass such huge legislation through the House without lawmakers present and ready to vote. The Senate is used to passing legislation by unanimous consent, but the House is more typically driven by the majority party imposing its will.
Pelosi said McConnell's request "simply can't" advance through the Democratic-controlled House under unanimous consent.
The future of the legislation is likely to be largely determined by Pelosi, McConnell and Mnuchin, along with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.
Vice President Mike Pence convened another day of conference calls with lawmakers and the coronavirus task force, talking separately with Senate Republicans and Democrats, on the crisis and federal response.
The Senate convened for the brief pro-forma session with just four senators present -- none in masks -- to consider the dueling proposals.
Senate Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., who presided over the brief session, told reporters it is "unlikely" the chamber will reopen April 20 as planned.
REOPENING TASK FORCE
Meanwhile, Trump is preparing to announce as soon as this week a second, smaller coronavirus task force aimed specifically at combating the economic ramifications of the virus and focused on reopening the nation's economy, according to four people familiar with the plans.
The task force will be made up of a mix of private-sector and top administration officials, including Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, Mnuchin and national economic adviser Larry Kudlow, a senior administration official said.
Meadows is likely to lead the task force, though no official decision has been made, two senior administration officials said.
Kevin Hassett, Trump's former chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, may also join the group, another official said.
Those people spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.
The economic task force -- which will be separate from the main coronavirus task force, despite having some overlapping members -- will focus on how to reopen the country, as well as what businesses need to rebound amid catastrophic conditions. The goal is to get as much of the country as possible open by April 30, the current deadline Trump set for stringent social distancing measures.
The White House declined to comment.
Information for this article was contributed by Andrew Taylor and Lisa Mascaro of The Associated Press; by Emily Cochrane of The New York Times; and by Erica Werner, Mike DeBonis, Ashley Parker, Josh Dawsey, Yasmeen Abutaleb, Robert Costa and Jeff Stein of The Washington Post.
A Section on 04/10/2020