3/6/2023 0 Comments Dc gridlockThe Biden team would like a down payment of COVID relief now and is standing by Pelosi’s handling of the matter. “There seems to be more interest in trying to move an omnibus package and more serious discussion about that than I’ve heard so far about a COVID package.” “Frankly, our best chance to get some COVID relief might be to get a regular funding bill and put the most critical pieces of COVID relief on that,” said Sen. COVID relief could be an add-on to either bill. The sole must-pass legislation for the lame-duck session is a temporary spending bill to avert a government shutdown - or a broader governmentwide omnibus funding bill if negotiations go well. The two longstanding adversaries are formidable when their interests align, but their offices say they have not spoken since the election and don’t know when they will. It seems like the wrong moment to telegraph concessions to McConnell and the Republicans. But she is not - yet - wavering from her insistence on a sweeping and comprehensive relief bill rather than the more targeted approach favored by Republicans.Īnd for now, Pelosi is devoting her energies to soothing her unhappy Democratic caucus in advance of leadership elections this week. The results of the election have also weakened the negotiating position of Pelosi, who played hardball during the weeks leading up to the election, only to come away empty-handed. Without a better and more reliable signal of Trump’s intentions, both McConnell and Pelosi could be wary of navigating the turbulence required to forge an agreement. Trump is a disruptive factor on Capitol Hill and no deal is possible without his buy-in, or at least his signature. Moving toward somewhere in the middle would be difficult for both camps. Pelosi wants to go big, say $2 trillion McConnell wants a smaller package in the $500 billion range that his rightward-tilting colleagues can live with. The split-decision election - in which Democrats absorbed sizable losses in House races despite defeating Trump - hasn’t sparked any progress or prodded House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., or Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., to move from their pre-election postures. There’s no progress in Congress yet, either. 20.” He said he understood Trump’s “reluctance” to admit defeat and share his administration's plans but called it “a shame.” 20 to start that planning, it puts us behind.”īiden said he was hopeful that Trump “will be mildly more enlightened before we get to Jan. Saying vaccine plans are vital to repairing the nation’s economy, Biden said, “If we have to wait until Jan. Across town at the White House, Trump is more focused on getting credit for the vaccine development push and blocking President-elect Joe Biden from getting the information needed to ensure the new administration can smoothly take over the fight against the pandemic.īiden, who has warned of a “dark winter” ahead on the virus, called for the Trump administration to share its vaccine distribution plans with his own incoming administration, warning that “more people may die if you don’t coordinate.” Yet in Congress, where talks over economic relief bills stalled out months ago, lame-duck approval of aid is hardly front-of-mind. The virus has killed more than 247,000 Americans this year and infected at least 11.1 million - some 1 million of them in just the past week. The urgency of the nationwide surge in virus cases, spiking hospitalizations and increasing death tolls has hardly resonated in the nation’s capital as its leaders are vexed by transition politics and trying to capitalize on the promise of a coming vaccine. WASHINGTON (AP) - With the nation gripped by a resurgent coronavirus and looking to Washington for help, President Donald Trump and lawmakers in Congress have a message for struggling Americans: Just keep waiting.
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