Swift Senate action on a mammoth $2 trillion rescue package hit a speed bump Wednesday amid opposition from a small group of GOP lawmakers, throwing up a last-minute hurdle as congressional leaders rush to finalize the bipartisan deal.
Senate leaders were hoping to vote Wednesday afternoon on the legislation, which will deliver much-needed emergency aid to nearly every sector across the U.S., including $1,200 checks to many Americans. But Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Tim Scott (R-S.C.), Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) and Rick Scott (R-Fla.) are opposing speedy consideration of the measure over concerns it would encourage employees to be laid off instead of working.
At issue is language surrounding beefed-up unemployment insurance, which they say would allow workers to be paid more on unemployment than what they were making while employed.
The lawmakers are working with the Senate Finance Committee to craft an amendment to fix the “drafting error” before they agree to fast-track consideration of the package — a demand that has delayed the bill’s release, as well as the timeline for final passage.
“We’ll know in about an hour as to whether or not this is a drafting error,” Graham said at a press conference in the Capitol Wednesday afternoon. “I hope they’re right, but I’m concerned.”
Graham — who said they discovered the problem during a telephone briefing on the bill Wednesday morning — defended their efforts to hold up the package, arguing it was more “responsible” to get the historic piece of legislation right. Earlier this week, the GOP hammered Democrats for blocking two procedural votes on the measure as they fought for changes.
But Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) also threatened to throw up hurdles, warning that he would put out his own demands on oversight of a business fund if the GOP senators refused to drop their unemployment insurance changes.
The Senate is still hoping it can vote Wednesday night on the package, the largest of its kind in U.S. history, which comes after five days of tense negotiations between Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. It includes a dramatic expansion of unemployment insurance, a rescue fund for state and local governments, immediate cash for hospitals and a huge pool of grants and loans for small businesses.
The House, meanwhile, is expected to take up the bill as early as Thursday afternoon. Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her leadership team spent much of the day on conference calls briefing their members about the plan.
It is Congress’s third major bill in response to the crisis, which has infected 55,500 Americans and brought the U.S. economy to a standstill, and will not be the last.
"Today, the Senate will act to help the people of this country weather this storm,” McConnell said in an emotional speech about how the nation would fight and beat the coronavirus crisis. “Our nation needed us to go big and go fast and they did."
"This is not even a stimulus package— it’s emergency relief," McConnell said.
Speaking on the floor afterwards, Schumer said Democrats are prepared to support speeding up consideration of the bill so the Senate can vote on the package Wednesday.
“I expect the Senate can get the job done in the [next] few hours,” he said in a midday floor speech.
As of 2 p.m., legislative staff were once again rewriting sections of the highly complex text, though lawmakers have been given near-final drafts to review. Ahead of the bill’s release, Mnuchin huddled with Senate Republicans on a conference call.
Pelosi told her members on Wednesday afternoon that she’ll likely bring up the bill in a way that would not force lawmakers to return to Washington, through “unanimous consent,” a legislative maneuver generally reserved for quick passage of noncontroversial legislation, or via a voice vote.
A single lawmaker, however, could object and request a roll call vote, which would likely require lawmakers return to Washington to vote. The Democratic whip team is also figuring out a process for potential proxy voting, which would require a rule change but would require fewer members return to the Capitol.
A Democratic report released earlier this week outlined the various voting options, strongly endorsing unanimous consent as the best way forward in the current crisis.
Pelosi has already advised her members that they may need to return to Washington, telling Democrats Wednesday that House leaders are talking to Capitol Police and the attending physician in preparation.
Multiple members would not be able to attend votes, including the two lawmakers who are battling the coronavirus — Reps. Ben McAdams and Mario Diaz-Balart — as well as several others who are self-quarantining after possible exposure.
Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.) also said Wednesday that he has developed symptoms of the virus — but cannot get a test because of the national scarcity — and will be self-quarantining at his home.
In a letter to Democrats Wednesday, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said he remains "committed to giving House Members 24 hours’ notice before the House acts."
"Before we can determine when and how the House will consider this legislation, we must have the final legislative text and clear direction on when the Senate will vote," Hoyer said.
House Republican leaders have privately acknowledged that there's a strong possibility that a member will object to a unanimous consent agreement.
There has been plenty of last-minute drama with the Senate package. A furious New York Governor Andrew Cuomo held an emergency call with the House’s New York delegation at 11 a.m., where he told them “New York is dead’ and they needed to push for a stronger package, according to people familiar with the call.
Cuomo later grew emotional during a press conference, lashing out at the Senate’s bill as “a drop in the bucket” for his state, which now has 30,611 coronavirus cases.
Shortly after, Schumer, who represents New York and signed off on the bill, organized his own teleconference for his state’s delegation to help rally support for the bill.
Still, Democrats have touted wins in the package, including $130 billion in funding for hospitals; a massive temporary expansion of unemployment benefits; federal oversight of a $500 billion fund to aid distressed industries; and a prohibition on access to loans or investments from the new programs to any of Trump’s personal businesses.
Republican aides, however, accused Schumer of exaggerating some of his “wins” and countered that the GOP never objected to more money for hospitals or oversight of the $500 billion fund for corporations.
Pelosi and other top Democrats have been fielding questions and complaints from their caucus in a series of calls Wednesday as rank-and-file Democrats complained that their priorities weren’t included in the Senate deal.
Pelosi and other senior Democrats reiterated that they will continue to fight for many of those proposals, noting there will be opportunities in the fourth stimulus bill Congress is all-but certain to craft. House Democrats are expected to be briefed on a full caucus call sometime after the Senate text is unveiled.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) blessed the deal in a statement Wednesday afternoon, and later told reporters at a press conference that he prefers a voice vote over a unanimous consent request.
The House GOP is scheduled to host two conference-wide calls Wednesday on the economic relief package.
Rep. Justin Amash (I-Mich.), who frequently objects to Congress’s biggest spending packages and isn’t beholden to party leadership, has also scoffed at the deal on Twitter, but signaled he won’t hold it up “if they have majorities to pass it.”
Marianne Levine contributed to this story.
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