Congressional lawmakers are feuding over a central component of the massive economic relief package being debated by the Senate, a battle that may threaten the enormous emergency aid package while reprising one of the most bitter political fights of the last decade, the Washington Post reported. The Trump administration and Senate Republicans have called for giving the Treasury Department the authority to disburse hundreds of billions of dollars in emergency federal loans to firms hurt by the economic impact of the coronavirus. Their initial proposals called for the fund to be worth $208 billion. But after a flurry of lobbying over the weekend, Senate Republicans’ legislation now calls for a $500 billion program that would award loans to states and cities as well as businesses, according to a copy of the most recent GOP proposal. Congressional Democrats have demanded the legislation include guardrails to prevent firms that receive the emergency aid from firing their workers or stripping them of their health care, among other asks by labor groups. They also are balking at giving Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin so much authority to determine which firms receive the assistance.
