The letter is a clear attempt to hinder Democratic efforts to pursue budgetary reconciliation as the path to the next round of coronavirus aid. This week, Democrats in both chambers are planning to pass budgetary resolutions allowing the party to approve Biden’s $ 1.9 trillion coronavirus plan without Republican Party votes.
Still, this path has little room for error: all 50 Senate Democrats would need to be on board, and House leaders could afford few defections. And Republicans in a bipartisan negotiating group have asked Biden to crush efforts to move forward without them, although Democrats doubt that they will ever accept the big spending plan they say is needed to revive the economy.
Republican senators will release more details of their plan on Monday, according to a Republican aide. Sunday’s letter indicated that it will also extend unemployment benefits that expire in March, respond to Biden’s request for nutritional assistance and send a new round of payments “to the families most in need of assistance, including their children and dependent adults”. It will also address child care, small business assistance and school funding.
Republicans and some Democrats complained that people with high incomes would be eligible for the next round of $ 1,400 payments. And no Republicans have yet shown lukewarm support for Biden’s $ 1.9 trillion higher spending. This has led House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer to say they will move on if Republicans are an obstacle to their plan.
In addition to Collins, the letter was signed by GOP Sens. Lisa Murkowski from Alaska, Bill Cassidy from Louisiana, Mitt Romney from Utah, Rob Portman from Ohio, Shelley Moore Captain from West Virginia, Todd Young from Indiana, Jerry Moran from Kansas, Thom Tillis from North Carolina and Mike Rounds from South Dakota They say that if Biden is willing to listen to them, Congress does not need to pass a coronavirus party bill.
“In 2020, members of the House and Senate and the previous government met on a bipartisan basis five times,” they wrote on Sunday. “With your support, we believe that Congress can once again design an aid package that will provide meaningful and effective assistance to the American people and put us on the road to recovery.”