Coronavirus Rescue Bill Moving Toward a Final Senate Vote Monday

A bipartisan group of negotiators on Capitol Hill rushed Saturday to complete a stimulus bill designed to blunt the impact of the coronavirus pandemic that has brought the global economy to a virtual standstill and plunged financial markets into chaos.

The GOP Senate leadership hoped to have details of the bill completed over the weekend, with the goal of passing it Monday. The aim was also to include several months of appropriations designed to keep the government running, according to one administration official — a move that would allow Congress to adjourn for the coming weeks.

Senators have been meeting behind closed doors on Capitol Hill this week to try to hammer out an agreement on a stimulus package that could top $1.3 trillion meant to rescue businesses and workers but had been caught up on several sticking points in the talks.

Negotiators appeared to overcome one major hurdle after the Trump administration endorsed an expansion of unemployment insurance that many Senate Democrats had been seeking. The administration had been pushing a proposal to give cash payments directly to many Americans; while Democrats wanted to expand the unemployment insurance system for those whose hours have been cut or who have been laid off entirely.

Eric Ueland, the White House congressional liaison, told reporters Saturday that the White House backed the unemployment proposal.

Many of the details of the package remain under negotiation — with outstanding issues including the size of the cash payments to taxpayers, the details about the expansion of unemployment assistance, as well what the assistance to hospitals, state and local governments and major U.S. industries will look like.

Shortly before 2 p.m., Senate negotiators headed back to a closed-door meeting to discuss the Republican offer to add an enhanced unemployment insurance program to the Trump administration’s plan to send cash directly to Americans. But the many moving parts of the larger stimulus package were posing complications, with additions in one area putting pressure on negotiators to give in on other areas.

“The pieces are related,” said Sen. Ron Wyden (D., Ore.), the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, without saying whether Democrats had endorsed the Republican offer.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said that the Senate would hold an initial procedural vote Sunday with the aim of passing the final package Monday. The Democratic-controlled House would need to come back into session next week to make the bill law — but there were indications that the bill could be voted into law under expedited procedures without bringing the majority of House members back to Washington.

Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill sounded an optimistic tone about the state of the negotiations on Saturday — but warned that the package wasn’t yet completed.

“We are making good progress on many of the issues that we Democrats feel are important,” top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) said in remarks on the Senate floor. He described the bipartisan negotiations between the Senate and the Trump administration as being conducted in “good faith.”

“We’ve made some progress but I can’t tell you that we have a deal,” said Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R., Iowa).

The bill now is also expected to include billions more in emergency funding for federal agencies that White House budget officials requested last week, in large part because it isn’t clear when lawmakers will be able to return to Capitol Hill, according to a senior administration official.

The Office of Management and Budget sent a request Tuesday night for $45.8 billion aimed at bolstering agencies responding to the pandemic, proposing an additional $11.5 billion for the Department of Health and Human Services, with $3.4 billion of that put toward the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The request also called for an additional $8.3 billion for the Department of Defense, more than $16 billion for the Department of Veterans Affairs and $3.2 billion for the Department of Homeland Security, among other increases.

The senior administration official said the White House was working with Congress to shape a package that takes care of the requests but also doesn’t get bogged down in unrelated, ideological spats.

Congress already passed an $8.3 billion emergency spending measure earlier this month.

Larry Kudlow, the director of the National Economic Council, outlined a total government financial response to the coronavirus emergency at more than $2 trillion, or 10% of the country’s GDP, as negotiations over a rescue package continued on Capitol Hill Saturday.

He initially described a congressional spending bill that could top $2 trillion, leading to confusion over the size of the package under discussion by lawmakers. Another White House official later clarified that the figure cited by Mr. Kudlow included the additional effect of action by the Federal Reserve. Senators still are considering a stimulus amount between $1.3 trillion and $1.4 trillion, the official said.

Beyond workers, the package is expected to contain provisions to help businesses both large and small. Mr. Kudlow said that small businesses would get a payroll-tax holiday. The package is also expected to include $350 billion in assistance to small businesses to help with payroll and other business expenses. That is more than the $300 billion initially proposed.

Lawmakers weighing industry aid are considering whether to require that any major U.S. industry that accepts government assistance help protect workers’ jobs and benefits as conditions for accepting taxpayer help.

Mr. Schumer said that Democrats were pushing for large corporations, including airlines and manufacturers, to abide by certain conditions, including committing to no layoffs, no salary cuts for workers, no compensation increases for executives, a guarantee that laid-off workers could be rehired in a recovery and a ban on stock buybacks.

President Trump on Saturday called on lawmakers to prohibit stock buybacks as part of the final bill.

Airlines have been ramping up pressure on lawmakers and government officials in recent days, joining with labor unions to warn that some 750,000 jobs hang in the balance. They have argued they need immediate infusions of cash via government grants, not just loans, to avoid mass layoffs.

Chief executives of major passenger and cargo airlines told congressional leaders Saturday that they wouldn’t cut staff through Aug. 31 if grants were enacted. They also said that they would be willing to limit executive compensation and refrain from buying back stock and paying dividends over the lifetime of any government loans or loan guarantees.

“Unless worker payroll protection grants are passed immediately, many of us will be forced to take draconian measures such as furloughs,” the group of CEOs wrote.

But the grants were looking less likely on Saturday.

“The grant issue is a tough issue,” said Sen. John Thune (R., S.D.), the No. 2 Senate Republican and a member of the Senate committee that oversees airlines. “The airlines are going to have access to a credit facility through the Treasury that would give working capital to address some of their needs. The question on the grant dollars is something that the airlines have raised but at this point I don’t sense support for it here or within the administration.”

United Airlines Holdings Inc. said the carrier needed government aid by the end of the month to avoid payroll reductions in line with a previously announced 60% cut in its schedules.

“Time is running out,” United CEO Oscar Munoz and President Scott Kirby wrote to employees Friday. That evening, the Chicago-based carrier said it would stop nearly all of its remaining international flying, citing government mandates or restrictions prohibiting travel.

Boeing Co. joined airlines in recent days seeking taxpayer help. The Chicago-based plane maker is seeking at least $60 billion in private and public liquidity amid a cash crunch. Executives have said they are seeking to avoid layoffs as global demand for air-travel — and airliners — plummets.

“We do need protections for the workforce,” said Jon Holden, president of International Association of Machinists District 751, which represents Boeing factory workers in the Seattle area. “What makes the aerospace industry so important is the hundreds of thousands of jobs that it supports in our community.”
Source: Dow Jones