Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Pelosi: House To Stay in Session Until COVID-19 Rescue Pact
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 5 years ago on
September 15, 2020

Share

WASHINGTON — Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Tuesday the House will remain in session until lawmakers deliver another round of COVID-19 relief, a move that came as Democrats from swing districts signaled discontent with a standoff that could force them to face voters without delivering more aid.

“We are committed to staying here until we have an agreement, an agreement that meets the needs of the American people,” Pelosi said on CNBC.

Pelosi told her Democratic colleagues on a morning conference call that “we have to stay here until we have a bill.” That’s according to a Democratic aide speaking on condition of anonymity but authorized to quote her remarks.

Pelosi told her Democratic colleagues on a morning conference call that “we have to stay here until we have a bill.” That’s according to a Democratic aide speaking on condition of anonymity but authorized to quote her remarks.

The move highlighted the extent to which coronavirus legislation has settled into a kind of suspended animation in the final legislative weeks before the November election. Both parties insist they want action, keeping the idea of new relief alive, but negotiations between Democrats and the White House remain frozen, with both sides entrenched in their positions.

Pelosi’s comments came as moderate Democrats, many from areas won by President Donald Trump four years ago, signed on to a $1.5 trillion rescue package endorsed by the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus, a group of about 50 lawmakers who seek common solutions to issues.

The plan contains many elements of COVID rescue packages devised by both House Democrats and Republicans controlling the Senate, including aid to schools, funding for state and local governments, and renewal of lapsed COVID-related jobless benefits.

The price tag is significantly less than the $2.2 trillion figure cited by Pelosi but it’s also well above an approximately $650 billion Senate GOP plan that failed last week due to Democratic opposition.

Talks between Pelosi and the Trump administration broke down last month and there had been little optimism they would rekindle before Election Day. And last week, Senate Democrats scuttled a scaled-back GOP coronavirus rescue package.

Success Not Guaranteed

Pelosi has maintained a hard line in negotiations and has been at odds with White House chief of staff Mark Meadows. She orchestrated passage of a $3.4 trillion COVID rescue package back in May, but the effort was immediately dismissed by Senate Republicans and the Trump administration.

Tuesday’s remarks, said Pelosi spokesman Drew Hammill, don’t mean that the speaker is adopting a more flexible position. She instead seems to be signaling continued determination to press ahead and won’t adjourn the House without an agreement with the administration.

Success is by no means guaranteed, and many people on Capitol Hill remain skeptical that an agreement between the White House and Democrats is likely before the election.

“My sense is the clock is running out,” said Senate GOP Whip John Thune of South Dakota. “I don’t see any intention or desire on the part of the Democrat leadership at the moment — regardless of what their members are saying — to cooperate and to work together on a solution. I think they feel like they’ve got the issue and they want to try and ride it in November.”

As the leadership talks collapsed, some moderate Democrats have been agitating for greater compromise. Their talks with pragmatic Republicans yielded common ground but the group does not have much of a track record of broadening their efforts and producing results.

“This is how Congress is supposed to work,” said Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-S.D., a member of the Problem Solvers group, describing a lengthy, bipartisan negotiation that produced a consensus. The group hopes the package illustrates the kinds of compromises that top Democrats and the administration would have to make to get a measure passed and signed into law.

Problem Solvers Caucus Measure Contains Another Round of $1,200 Direct Payments

“I hope our leadership is paying attention. I hope our leadership is looking hard at what we’re doing,” said Rep. Kurt Schrader, D-Ore. “We consider this the basic tenets of any package that comes out of the House and the Senate and is signed by the president of the United States.”

No. 2 House Democrat Steny Hoyer of Maryland said the moderates had developed “useful ideas, important ideas” but said the proposal did not do enough to address the ongoing needs of helping the economy recover from the COVID-19 crisis.

“We believe that getting to a compromise is absolutely essential. Getting to a compromise that does not deal with the problems, however, is not useful, because the longer you delay addressing many of the problems, the greater you weaken both the economy and the response to COVID-19.”No. 2 House Democrat Steny Hoyer of Maryland

“We believe that getting to a compromise is absolutely essential,” Hoyer told reporters Tuesday. “Getting to a compromise that does not deal with the problems, however, is not useful, because the longer you delay addressing many of the problems, the greater you weaken both the economy and the response to COVID-19.”

And a set of powerful Democratic committee chairs swung against the moderates’ proposal as well, saying it “leaves too many needs unmet” — a leadership effort that signals that the Problem Solvers bill is going nowhere.

“I hope we can get a deal. It’s really up to the president. As I said, we have agreed to come down a trillion (dollars),” said top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer of New York. “They come up a trillion and then we’re close, that’s very clear. And the bottom line is, they haven’t done that.”

The Problem Solvers measure contains another round of $1,200 direct payments favored by Trump and Democrats but rejected by Senate Republicans in their most recent bill. It contains a liability shield against lawsuits brought against businesses that have reopened their doors that’s favored by Republicans but opposed by Pelosi and trial lawyers.

It also offers a two-month extension of bonus pandemic jobless benefits that splits the difference between the Pelosi-backed extension of the expired $600 weekly benefit that lapsed at the end of July and the $300 benefit favored by Senate Republicans. After two months, the benefit would increase back to $600 but not if that benefit causes a worker to exceed their wages.

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

Anti-Israel Boycott Bill Withdrawn from Congressional Vote

DON'T MISS

Ravens Release Justin Tucker After Accusations by Massage Therapists of Inappropriate Behavior

DON'T MISS

Carney Meets Trump in Bid to Reset Strained Canada-US Relations

DON'T MISS

Draymond Green’s Vow to Keep His Cool Helps Warriors Advance to in West Semis

DON'T MISS

Ian Happ Homers as the Cubs Beat the Sloppy Giants

DON'T MISS

Ohtani and Freeman Homer off Alcántara as Dodgers Beat Marlins

DON'T MISS

That One Place Provides a Unique Karaoke Experience and Is ‘Good for the Soul’

DON'T MISS

Israel Hits Yemen’s Main Airport in Airstrike Against Houthis

DON'T MISS

Hanford Toddler Critical After Accidental Gunshot, Police Arrest Relative

DON'T MISS

Drone Strikes Pound Port Sudan, Putting Aid Deliveries at Risk

UP NEXT

Draymond Green’s Vow to Keep His Cool Helps Warriors Advance to in West Semis

UP NEXT

Ian Happ Homers as the Cubs Beat the Sloppy Giants

UP NEXT

Warren Buffett Shocks Shareholders by Announcing His Intention to Retire at the End of the Year

UP NEXT

Don’t Have a REAL ID Yet? That Could Cause You Travel Headaches After May 7

UP NEXT

Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Trial to Delve Into the Seediest Side of Rap’s ‘Bad Boy’

UP NEXT

Robbie Ray’s Gem Leads the Giants Over the Rockies

UP NEXT

World’s Tallest and Smallest Dogs Meet Up for a Playdate

UP NEXT

University of Texas Chancellor Is Named President of the University of California

UP NEXT

Here’s Why May the 4th Is Celebrated as Star Wars Day Across the Galaxy

UP NEXT

Military Parade on Trump’s Birthday Could Include More Than 6,500 Troops

Draymond Green’s Vow to Keep His Cool Helps Warriors Advance to in West Semis

59 minutes ago

Ian Happ Homers as the Cubs Beat the Sloppy Giants

1 hour ago

Ohtani and Freeman Homer off Alcántara as Dodgers Beat Marlins

1 hour ago

That One Place Provides a Unique Karaoke Experience and Is ‘Good for the Soul’

1 hour ago

Israel Hits Yemen’s Main Airport in Airstrike Against Houthis

2 hours ago

Hanford Toddler Critical After Accidental Gunshot, Police Arrest Relative

2 hours ago

Drone Strikes Pound Port Sudan, Putting Aid Deliveries at Risk

2 hours ago

Europe Launches $566M Program to Lure US Researchers Amid Trump Cuts

2 hours ago

This Is the Moment of Moral Reckoning in Gaza

2 hours ago

Buy American? No Thanks, Europe Says, as Tariff Backlash Grows.

2 hours ago

Anti-Israel Boycott Bill Withdrawn from Congressional Vote

A controversial bill that would have penalized Americans for boycotting Israel was removed from the congressional voting schedule Monday fol...

11 minutes ago

11 minutes ago

Anti-Israel Boycott Bill Withdrawn from Congressional Vote

46 minutes ago

Ravens Release Justin Tucker After Accusations by Massage Therapists of Inappropriate Behavior

U.S. President Donald Trump greets Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., May 6, 2025. (REUTERS/Kent Nishimura)
55 minutes ago

Carney Meets Trump in Bid to Reset Strained Canada-US Relations

59 minutes ago

Draymond Green’s Vow to Keep His Cool Helps Warriors Advance to in West Semis

1 hour ago

Ian Happ Homers as the Cubs Beat the Sloppy Giants

1 hour ago

Ohtani and Freeman Homer off Alcántara as Dodgers Beat Marlins

1 hour ago

That One Place Provides a Unique Karaoke Experience and Is ‘Good for the Soul’

Smoke billows after an Israeli airstrike on Houthi infrastructure, in Sana'a, Yemen May 6, 2025. (REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah)
2 hours ago

Israel Hits Yemen’s Main Airport in Airstrike Against Houthis

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend