SALT LAKE CITY — A group of Republican senators, including Utah Sen. Mitt Romney, unveiled a $618 billion COVID-19 relief plan they will pitch to President Joe Biden on Monday.
The proposal, which contains another $1,000 in direct payment to Americans, is less than a third of the $1.9 trillion plan Biden has touted and that has Democratic support.
“Mr. President, we recognize your calls for unity and want to work in good faith with your administration to meet the health, economic, and societal challenges of the COVID crisis,” the 10 GOP senators said in a statement. “We look forward to discussing our proposal in detail with you this afternoon at the White House.”
The senators say their plan has many of Biden’s priorities, including more funding for vaccine production and distribution, extending enhanced federal unemployment benefits, nutrition assistance for struggling families, additional small businesses aid, reopening schools and resources for child care.
Biden agreed Sunday to meet with the GOP senators early this week.
“With the virus posing a grave threat to the country, and economic conditions grim for so many, the need for action is urgent, and the scale of what must be done is large,” said White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki.
The Republican proposal would provide $1,000 stimulus checks, which starts to phase out at a lower income threshold for individuals — $40,000. It would extend $300 per week federal unemployment benefits through June 30. It does not include money for state and local governments, a priority of Democrats.
House Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., on Sunday dismissed the GOP senators’ plan as inadequate. He said they should go back to the drawing board and talk to him and Democrats.
“They should negotiate with us, not make a take-it-or-leave-it offer,” he told the New York Daily News.
Biden’s American Rescue Plan includes $1,400 relief checks, a substantial investment in fighting COVID-19, reopening schools, aid to small businesses and hurting families, and funds to keep first responders on the job.
“As leading economists have said, the danger now is not in doing too much; it is in doing too little. Americans of both parties are looking to their leaders to meet the moment,” Psaki said.
Since March 2019, Congress has passed five bipartisan COVID-19 relief bills and provided more than $4 trillion in aid. The latest package approved in December provided $900 billion in additional aid, including $600 in direct payments to individuals.
The Republican senators — Romney, Maine Sen. Susan Collins, Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy, Ohio Sen. Rob Portman, West Virginia Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, Indiana Sen. Todd Young, Kansa Sen. Jerry Moran, South Dakota Sen. Mike Rounds and North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis — argue that “billions of dollars” from the December package as well as CARES Act money allocated last March has yet to be spent.
from Deseret News https://ift.tt/3rbMqe2
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