Senate Republicans were confident yesterday that most GOP colleagues would vote to support a narrower coronavirus aid package, a move aimed to highlight party unity as lawmakers grew increasingly pessimistic about any deal with Democrats before the election, the Wall Street Journal reported. The GOP’s $300 billion scaled-back version of their earlier $1 trillion stimulus plan includes jobless aid, liability protections for businesses and school funding, among other measures. But facing Democratic opposition, the “skinny” bill wasn’t expected to clear its first procedural hurdle in the Senate today or spur any immediate breakthrough in stalled negotiations with Democratic leaders and the White House. Senate GOP leaders hadn’t held a vote on their earlier proposal, which divided Republicans. The less-expensive bill, which lawmakers said should bolster vulnerable party senators during the final stretch of fall campaigning, is expected to get support from at least 51 GOP senators. Republicans currently have a 53-47 majority in the Senate, but control is seen as up for grabs in the November election. Democrats have said the earlier GOP plan came up short of the needs raised by the pandemic’s health and economic effects, and the new one even more so. The new bill includes about $650 billion in spending, offset by $350 billion in savings elsewhere for a total cost of around $300 billion, according to GOP aides. The new GOP bill includes $300 in weekly federal unemployment payments through Dec. 27, establishes legal protections for businesses and health-care facilities, provides $29 billion in health-care funding, $105 billion for schools and permits the U.S. Postal Service to not repay a $10 billion loan set up in a previous aid package. It also includes a second round of the popular Paycheck Protection Program for businesses that have demonstrated a revenue loss. The proposed bill aims to resume assistance to small businesses under the PPP, which expired on Aug. 8. Under the plan, businesses with 300 or fewer employees can apply for a second PPP loan if they can demonstrate a reduction of at least 35% in their quarterly revenue from the same quarter in 2019. Such loans will be equal to 2.5 times the company’s average monthly payroll cost, with a maximum loan value of $2 million. As under the previous rule, at least 60 percent of the funds must be used on payroll. Read more. (Subscription required.)
With the Senate poised to vote today on a slender GOP coronavirus relief bill that’s certain to fail, chances for a bipartisan deal on new economic stimulus look more remote than ever. This impasse has prompted top White House officials to consider a new round of executive actions that they hope could direct funding to certain groups amid fears that the nascent economic recovery could fail to gain momentum, the Washington Post reported. White House officials have discussed efforts to unilaterally provide support for the flagging airline industry while also bolstering unemployment benefits, according to two people aware of the deliberations who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share internal policy discussions. The White House has also discussed moving without Congress to direct more money for school vouchers and changing President Trump’s recent payroll tax changes to make it more effective. Typically, such actions require congressional approval. In August, Trump signed four executive actions meant to provide more unemployment aid, eviction protections, student loan relief and to defer payroll tax payments. The moves have had mixed success and came as political talks faltered on Capitol Hill. Read more.
