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The attempt to draw up a pandemic relief package hit another roadblock yesterday as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s top lieutenants said key portions of a compromise proposal from a bipartisan group of lawmakers aren’t likely to get backing from a majority of Republicans, Bloomberg News reported. Senator John Thune, the chamber’s No. 2 Republican, said the group of GOP and Democratic senators trying to forge a compromise likely cannot produce a solution to limiting the liability of employers in connection with COVID-19 infections that will satisfy Republicans. Democrats probably won’t like the result either, he added. The bipartisan group yesterday removed one of the last remaining hurdles to a complete stimulus framework when they agreed on a needs-based formula to distribute $160 billion in state and local aid, according to two congressional aides. But they are still haggling over the liability shield for employers that Republicans have demanded as part of the package. The group is discussing an enhanced pause in COVID-19 lawsuits, combined with a process for developing a future liability standard along with a standard that would apply now. Read more. 

In related news, a second round of Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans that lawmakers hope to include in the next COVID-19 relief package would expand eligibility and provide more flexibility for businesses, a top GOP lawmaker said yesterday, The Hill reported. Rep. Steve Chabot (R-Ohio), the ranking member on the House Small Business Committee, said that components of a $908 billion bipartisan coronavirus relief proposal circulated this week would accommodate businesses with very few employees, create new eligibility requirements for a second loan and simplify the loan forgiveness process. “We’re close to having a second round of PPP loans available, and there would be a set-aside there for microbusinesses, those that have 10 or fewer employees,” Chabot said. “A lot of them weren’t sophisticated enough to get in the first round. We want to make sure that those who didn’t get one in the first round or businesses who maybe did get one but really need a second loan, that they’re both eligible.” Read more. 

Congressional Democrats yesterday introduced legislation overhauling the U.S. bankruptcy system to make it friendlier to consumers while opening the door to student-loan cancellation, among other proposals, the Wall Street Journal reported. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) said that the proposed bill would streamline bankruptcy filings for individuals and families and reduce filing fees while addressing racial and gender disparities in how bankruptcy laws are applied. Some Democrats, including Sen. Warren, for years have been keen on changing the nation’s consumer bankruptcy laws, which last underwent a major amendment in 2005. President-elect Joe Biden’s election victory raised the odds of a significant revision, though any such proposal would face obstacles in a closely divided Senate. Control of the upper house, which now has 50 Republicans and 48 Democrats, will be determined by the two pivotal Georgia runoff races on Jan. 5. The Consumer Bankruptcy Reform Act of 2020 follows a framework put forth by Sen. Warren during the Democratic presidential primary that was later endorsed by President-elect Biden on the campaign trail. The legislation would create a new consumer bankruptcy option, chapter 10, replacing the current chapter 7 and chapter 13 routes individuals use to either liquidate or restructure their debts. Chapter 10 would let filers wipe out all unsecured debt, with narrow exceptions such as child support or debts incurred by fraud. Borrowers could also create repayment plans specific to different types of debt, including medical and credit card debt, as well as home mortgages and car loans. (Subscription required.)
https://www.wsj.com/articles/democrats-warren-and-nadler-float-consumer…

Click here to read the full bill text.
http://ct.symplicity.com/t/wrn/903126e8d662ad20ab57861668e9c2c7/3769411…

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) have given no sign yet that they’re ready to directly engage in negotiations to sort through competing pandemic relief proposals — a step that many lawmakers say will be necessary to complete a deal this month, Bloomberg News reported. The Senate GOP leader is now on board with a $916 billion proposal released on Tuesday by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, while the House speaker sees a rival $908 billion plan still being drafted by a bipartisan group of lawmakers as the best path to a deal to aid the struggling U.S. economy. Their positioning shows consensus emerging on an overall price tag. But the proposals differ on key features. Although their proxies are engaged in negotiations, the top congressional leaders haven’t yet planned a meeting to resolve the outstanding issues. The biggest holdups for months have been a McConnell quest for a liability shield for employers facing coronavirus-related lawsuits that congressional Democrats don’t want, and a push by Pelosi for a substantial amount of state and local government aid that’s anathema to many Republicans in both chambers. Pelosi continues to say that the best chances for a deal are bipartisan Senate talks where a handful of rank and file Republican are open to just a pause in liability lawsuits instead of the changes McConnell wants. The Senate leader wants to defer to the separate White House’s offer, believing only President Donald Trump will likely sway most Republicans to back a trillion dollar aid package. Pelosi and McConnell, along with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, must finally resolve this lingering dispute, according to legislators on both sides of the aisle.

The House of Representatives on Wednesday approved a one-week extension in funding for the federal government, a move aimed at giving lawmakers more time to hammer out agreements on spending bills and emergency economic relief, the Washington Post reported. Congressional leaders advanced the short-term extension in federal funding as negotiations over an emergency economic relief package appeared to falter and prospects of a major breakthrough dimmed. The measure passed by a 343-to-67 vote. Appropriators have continued to make progress on a set of spending bills to fund federal agencies, with only a few outstanding policy issues left to be resolved by congressional leaders, aides involved in deliberations say.

The Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship will hold a hearing at 10 a.m. EDT today titled "Small Business in Crisis: The 2020 Paycheck Protection Program and its Future." For a link to the live webcast and prepared witness testimony, please click here.

The U.S. House yesterday passed bipartisan legislation that would make PACER free for the public, handing a win to transparency advocates despite the federal judiciary’s opposition to the bill, the National Law Journal reported. The Open Courts Act of 2020, introduced by Reps. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) and Doug Collins (R-Ga.), gives the judiciary four to five years to update and modernize its electronic case management and case filing systems known as CM/ECF and PACER. It’s now up to the Senate to approve the bill and President Donald Trump to sign it in order for it to become law. The House Judiciary Committee advanced the legislation in September, with members of both parties voting in its favor. Federal judiciary leaders oppose the bill, claiming it would be expensive to make the system free. James Duff, director of the Administrative Office of U.S. Courts, asked House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) in a letter yesterday to stall the bill, claiming its current version “will have devastating budgetary and operational impact on the judiciary and our ability to serve the public.” Talking points distributed by the judiciary and obtained by the pro-transparency group Fix the Court suggest the AO believes it could cost at least $2 billion to build the new system. In Tuesday’s letter, Duff asked Hoyer to delay consideration of the legislation until the spring, when the first phase of a GSA study on the cost of a new system is expected to be completed.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin presented a new $916 billion COVID-19 relief proposal to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, in the first move by the Trump administration since Election Day to break a months-long standoff, Bloomberg News reported. Pelosi and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer called it progress, but said that it shouldn’t be used to obstruct the bipartisan negotiations already underway on a proposal from a group of Democratic and Republican lawmakers. The Mnuchin offer, which was made to Pelosi yesterday, was essentially a joint proposal from the White House, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.). Mnuchin said that he conferred with President Donald Trump, whose support will be needed to gather GOP votes. “This proposal includes money for state and local governments and robust liability protections for businesses, schools and universities,” Mnuchin said. Those issues have been the two key roadblocks in bipartisan talks on a $908 billion proposal put forth last week. “It’s a much better product” than the $908 billion option, McCarthy said. Pelosi and Schumer said in a joint statement that getting McConnell to go along with a $916 billion proposal was progress, but that the focal point should be the talks still going on in Congress on the bipartisan plan. They faulted the White House plan for leaving out enhanced unemployment benefits. Along with a widely supported renewal of aid for small businesses, the Mnuchin plan includes stimulus checks, something that members of both sides of the aisle have favored — including President-elect Joe Biden and Trump. There’s $600 per qualifying adult, with another $600 per child, according to McCarthy. Those checks would be in place of the $300 per week temporary supplementary unemployment benefits included in the bipartisan proposal. The proposal does extend two other expiring unemployment insurance programs — one for gig workers and the other for workers who have exhausted their 13 weeks of standard benefits.

Almost a week after Democratic congressional leaders climbed down from their demand for a multi-trillion dollar stimulus package, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) continued to tout his own plan, endangering prospects for a compromise, Bloomberg News reported. McConnell’s top priority — federal limits on COVID-19 related lawsuits against businesses — has emerged as the key potential deal-breaker. Republicans have balked at the six-month moratorium proposed in a bipartisan stimulus package, saying it’s too limited, and talks have stalled. McConnell’s continued use of rhetoric that pre-dates the shift by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer on the overall dollar amount of aid underscored the risk of no further COVID-19 help by year-end. Senators from both sides of the aisle concluded that the prospects for a $908 billion compromise that Republican and Democratic negotiators are hashing out will come down to McConnell’s decision. Several GOP members have endorsed or been open to the plan, and top White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said President Donald Trump would likely sign it. The Republican and Democratic negotiators continued to butt heads over aid for states and localities as well as the coronavirus liability protection for businesses. “Those are coupled together,” said GOP Senator John Cornyn of Texas, who couldn’t predict whether the relief package will be enacted. “There’s either going to be none for both of those, or both of those that are going to be provided for. My hope is we’ll do both.” Republicans have blasted state assistance as a bailout for mainly Democratic areas, while Democrats have refused to give employers a shield from lawsuits over poor protection against the spread of COVID-19. Time is running ever shorter on getting a deal, which Senator John Thune, the No. 2 Republican in that chamber, said yesterday would be attached to either a stopgap federal spending bill or omnibus appropriations legislation that funds the government into 2021. Read more. 

In related news, Congress will vote this week on a one-week stopgap funding bill to provide time for lawmakers to reach a deal in talks aimed at delivering COVID-19 relief and an overarching spending bill to avoid a government shutdown, Reuters reported. Lawmakers in the Republican-led Senate and Democratic-run House of Representatives need to enact a funding measure by Friday, when current funding for federal agencies is set to expire. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell hope to attach long-awaited COVID-19 relief to a broad $1.4 trillion spending bill. But with those negotiations yet to produce agreement, McConnell and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said separately yesterday that both chambers would vote this week on a measure to allow an additional week of talks. “I am disappointed that we have not yet reached agreement on government funding. The House will vote on Wednesday on a one-week CR to keep government open while negotiations continue,” House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, the chamber’s No. 2 Democrat, said in a tweet. McConnell did not specify when the Senate would take up the measure. Read more. 

Millions of Americans who lost their jobs during the pandemic have fallen thousands of dollars behind on rent and utility bills, a warning sign that people are running out of money for basic needs, the Washington Post reported. Nearly 12 million renters will owe an average of $5,850 in back rent and utilities by January, Moody’s Analytics warns. Last month, 9 million renters said they were behind on rent, according to a Census Bureau survey. Economists say that the data underscores the deepening financial disaster for many families as the pandemic continues to shut off work opportunities, lending new urgency to negotiations over a second round of stimulus that could reinstate federal unemployment insurance and rental assistance, among other forms of aid. The stakes are high for some 20 million Americans receiving some kind of unemployment aid, who have seen weekly checks dwindle since August, making it harder to pay bills. About 12 million unemployed are slated to have their benefits cut off entirely at the end of the year unless lawmakers act before then.

A bipartisan group of U.S. senators will unveil legislation as early as today for additional fiscal stimulus worth about $908 billion, in an effort to speed up aid to an economy at risk of a further dip due to a record spike in coronavirus cases, the Financial Times reported. But Mark Warner, one of the Democratic senators leading the ten-strong bipartisan group pushing for the relief money, acknowledged that the effort was taking fire from both sides of the aisle over their proposal for a four-month emergency package. “We may have to go through a few more days of drama,” Sen Warner told CNN on Sunday. He added that it remained unclear whether Republican Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell would permit the legislation to go forward for a vote, despite expressing positive sentiments about the effort. The proposal includes $288 billion in small business aid, $180 billion in unemployment benefits that would boost weekly payouts by $300 and $160 billion for cash-strapped state and local governments. It would also offer aid to troubled sectors, including $17 billion for the airline industry. One sticking point remains whether to accord liability protection for businesses that reopened during the pandemic. Read more. 

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said on Friday that she wants to attach a coronavirus relief bill to a $1.4 trillion omnibus spending package that would avert a government shutdown later this month, raising the prospects of long-stalled stimulus relief finally being signed into law, Politico reported. Pelosi said that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell agreed with her about combining the annual spending measures with coronavirus relief during their conversation on Thursday, the first time in weeks the two leaders have discussed moving a relief bill. President-elect Joe Biden on Friday said that he’s “encouraged” by the $908 billion proposal, framing it as the type of bipartisan work that he hopes to foster as president. He cautioned that “any package passed in the lame duck session is not going to be enough overall.” But hurdles remain. Government funding runs out in just one week, and there are still a sizable number of issues impeding an agreement on a massive spending package that would increase agency budgets for the rest of the fiscal year. Read more.