Senate to Vote on Targeted Stimulus Bill Despite Stalemate

The Labor Day break didn’t appear to ease any tensions in the back and forth between Republicans and Democrats on a follow-up COVID-19 stimulus bill, with the parties appearing to not be any closer to reaching an agreement. 

 

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) announced Sept. 8 that the Senate will take up a slimmed-down stimulus bill from the broader HEALS Act package the Senate leadership unveiled in late July.  

 

“Today, the Senate Republican majority is introducing a new targeted proposal, focused on some of the very most urgent healthcare, education, and economic issues. It does not contain every idea our party likes. I am confident Democrats will feel the same. Yet Republicans believe the many serious differences between our two parties should not stand in the way of agreeing where we can agree and making law that helps our nation,” McConnell said in a statement, further noting that he will be moving to set up a floor vote as soon as this week.

The GOP's “Delivering Immediate Relief to America’s Families, Schools and Small Businesses Act” legislation would provide $300 in additional federal unemployment benefits, make additional modifications and enhancements to the Paycheck Protection Program (including a second round of targeted relief for small businesses with fewer than 300 employees), extend liability protection from Coronavirus lawsuits and make various other miscellaneous changes. 

 

The bill does not include additional stimulus payments for individuals and families, nor does it include broader retirement relief provisions, such as legislative fixes to the CARES Act, funding relief for DC and DB plans, or additional relief from required minimum distributions among the items that have been proposed previously. 

 

Shortly after Sen. McConnell announced his intention to move on a slimmed-down bill, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) released a statement declaring, “Senate Republicans appear dead-set on another bill which doesn’t come close to addressing the problems and is headed nowhere.” They added that it was “laden with poison pills Republicans know Democrats would never support.”

 

One of the big holdups is the overall cost of the bill. The House Democrats’ HEROES Act passed by the House in May was pegged at $3.2 trillion, while the GOP’s HEALS package was approximately $1 trillion. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has offered to drop the overall level to $2.2 trillion, but that appears still too high for the Republicans, who want the package to remain at $1 trillion, citing deficit concerns, while the Democrats characterize the GOP plan as insufficient. Relief for state and local governments also appears to remain a key sticking point. 

 

For now, it still appears the start of the federal government’s fiscal year on Oct. 1 will likely be the next big deadline that helps drive an agreement for additional COVID-19 relief. Lawmakers will likely seek to approve a Continuing Resolution to fund the government temporarily until after the election and then may return for a lame-duck session.