Biden and GOP senators hold substantive and productive’ meeting on COVID relief, White House says

WASHINGTON — President Biden had an Oval Workplace assembly on Monday with a bunch of Republican senators who urged him to just accept their proposal for a $600 billion COVID aid bundle that’s far smaller than the $1.9 trillion model he has proposed.

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, spoke on behalf of her colleagues once they left the West Wing of the White Home after spending two hours with Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and high aides.

“I feel it was a superb assembly and we’re very appreciative that, as his first official assembly within the Oval Workplace, the president selected to spend a lot time with us in a frank and really helpful dialogue,” Collins stated.

Whereas conceding that no deal was reached between the 2 events, Collins indicated that she hopes dialogue will proceed.

White Home press secretary Jen Psaki subsequently launched an announcement during which she described the talks as “substantive and productive” whereas additionally indicating {that a} compromise has but to be reached.

“Whereas there have been areas of settlement, the President additionally reiterated his view that Congress should reply boldly and urgently, and famous many areas which the Republican senators’ proposal doesn’t handle,” Psaki stated.

Biden has pursued an aggressive response to the continued coronavirus pandemic since taking workplace final month. His proposed rescue plan contains funding for vaccine efforts, monetary aid for struggling U.S. cities and $1,400 stimulus checks for some Individuals.

Earlier than Monday’s assembly started, Biden emphasised his personal expertise within the Senate, the place he represented Delaware for over three many years.

“Thanks for coming down,” Biden stated to the Republican senators throughout a quick press availability earlier than the assembly started. “I’m anxious for us to speak, see what we are able to do. I really feel like I’m again within the Senate, which I preferred one of the best of the whole lot I did.”

Biden doesn’t essentially want Republican help for his rescue plan. If all 50 Senate Democrats have been united on a invoice, they might be capable of go it by a course of referred to as reconciliation, utilizing Vice President Kamala Harris to forged a tie-breaking vote. However that transfer carries political dangers as it could routinely set off cuts to Medicare due to the passage of the Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010. Underneath that regulation, any new regulation that causes the nationwide debt to rise ends in offsetting spending cuts to entitlement applications.

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Along with the greater than 443,000 deaths within the U.S., the pandemic has shuttered many companies and led to file unemployment. On Monday, Psaki famous each the dire circumstances of the assembly between the president and the GOP senators in addition to the potential for Democrats to go Biden’s proposal by reconciliation.

“He reiterated that whereas he’s hopeful that the rescue plan can go with bipartisan help, a reconciliation bundle is a path to attain that finish,” Psaki stated of Biden. “The President additionally made clear that the American Rescue Plan was rigorously designed to satisfy the stakes of this second, and any adjustments in it can not go away the nation in need of its urgent wants.”

The group of 10 senators who participated within the assembly included Republicans who’re seen as moderates within the occasion, together with Collins, Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah. Main variations between their proposal and Biden’s plan embody a scarcity of funding for state and native governments and a discount in federal unemployment insurance coverage, each in size (June within the GOP proposal versus September) and quantity ($300 per week versus $400). The Republican proposal would additionally strip out part of Biden’s plan that will finally improve the minimal wage to $15 per hour and cut back each the quantity and the variety of folks receiving extra stimulus funds.

Biden’s plan would make good on a promise to boost the overall stimulus help to the American folks to $2,000. In early January, earlier than Biden took workplace, Home Republicans blocked Democrats from passing that quantity, as an alternative capping the funds at $600. Biden’s determination to push for $1,400 funds on high of these $600 checks has received pushback from plenty of Democrats who’re pushing for a full $2,000 fee along with the preliminary $600.

A new Yahoo News/YouGov poll discovered a majority of Individuals backed Biden’s proposals, with 74 % supporting $2,000 checks, to only 13 % who have been towards that quantity. The survey additionally discovered 58 % supported elevating the minimal wage in comparison with 31 % who opposed doing so.

The smaller Republican proposal has been dismissed by plenty of Democrats, together with these in battleground states. Sen. Jon Ossoff and Sen. Raphael Warnock of Georgia each gained slim runoff races final month after campaigning aggressively on expanded aid, together with $2,000 stimulus checks. On Twitter, Ossoff criticized Republicans for searching for smaller funds.

“Why do GOP Senators need to slash direct financial aid?” Ossoff tweeted. “If something, extra bold fiscal stimulus is warranted. The folks demand and deserve this assist. We have now the help of the general public to be daring. Let’s ship.”

Democratic Sen. Jon Tester of Montana has additionally come out in favor of going massive regardless of representing a state that former President Trump gained in 2020 by greater than 16 factors.

“I do not suppose $1.9 trillion, despite the fact that it’s a boatload of cash, is an excessive amount of cash,” Tester stated in an interview with CNN on Sunday. “I feel now is just not the time to starve the economic system.”

Some within the GOP have additionally come out in favor of a bigger aid bundle. West Virginia’s Republican Gov. Jim Justice weighed in Monday, saying he prefers a much bigger invoice.

“At this cut-off date on this nation, we have to go massive,” Justice, who initially gained his seat as a Democrat earlier than switching events, stated in an MSNBC interview. “We have to stop counting the egg-sucking legs on the cows, and depend the cows, and simply transfer — and transfer ahead and transfer proper now.”

Justice additional added that it was “ridiculous past perception to have Democrats and Republicans preventing and couldn’t go a stimulus bundle for months.”

“It was godawful. That’s simply all there may be to it,” he stated. “You had those that have been struggling that wanted to pay their energy invoice, wanted to pay their lease or their automotive fee.”

However West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, a average, has bristled at White Home efforts to push a bigger aid bundle and expressed help for a bipartisan measure.

Progressive members of Congress, alternatively, are urgent Biden to not give in to Republican calls for.

“It’s advantageous to speak to them. So long as he makes it clear that they’re those standing in the best way of extra aid checks and help for frontline employees,” an aide to a distinguished lawmaker informed Yahoo Information. “If the latest elections in Georgia informed us something, it’s that persons are determined for assist — as a lot of it as potential. The reconciliation bundle is only a baseline. Republicans are solely making it tougher on themselves in 2022 by standing in the best way of wanted aid.”

When requested if the assembly confirmed that Biden is dedicated to creating the deal in a bipartisan method, a White Home official pointed to feedback Psaki made throughout a briefing on Monday afternoon.

“We noticed this as a very good religion proposal they put ahead to have a dialogue. The president is inviting them right here in good religion and we’ll see the place it goes from right here,” stated Psaki.

Psaki stated the dialog was not a sign that Biden is keen “to make or settle for a suggestion” or that he plans to exclude any Democrats from negotiations.

“I can promise you, we’re lower than two weeks in and there shall be many Democrats within the Oval Workplace,” stated Psaki.

Biden has stated it’s crucial for the administration to face agency.

“We can not, is not going to let folks go hungry,” Biden stated on Jan. 22. “We can not let folks be evicted due to nothing they did themselves. … It’s not simply to satisfy the ethical obligation to deal with our fellow Individuals with the dignity and respect they deserve — that is an financial crucial: a rising financial consensus that we should act decisively and boldly to develop the economic system for all Individuals, not only for tomorrow however sooner or later.”

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Initially printed February 2, 2021, 2:56 AM