Even before Congress passed a $484 billion coronavirus aid package last week, Democrats were planning something even more significant for the weeks ahead.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer talked of a massive spending measure “along the lines” of a $2.2 trillion economic aid package President Trump signed into law on March 28 amid the coronavirus lockdown.
It will be the fifth major spending measure to address the impact of the coronavirus outbreak. Democrats are calling the $484 billion step to help small businesses and healthcare facilities an “interim” bill and are labeling the next measure to address COVID-19 the fourth bill.
Overall, Congress has allocated a historic $2.8 billion in spending to address the health and economic impact of the coronavirus. But Democrats said it is not nearly enough.
“There will be a big, broad, bold, COVID 4,” Schumer, a New York Democrat, told reporters after the Senate passed the $484 billion measure. “For anyone who thinks this is the last train out of the station, that is not even close to the case.”
Republicans are far less enthusiastic about more massive spending bills. Instead, they are encouraging states to come up with plans to reopen economies and to return to normal as the coronavirus outbreak curve flattens in the weeks ahead.
“It’s also time to begin to think about the amount of debt that we are adding to our country and the future impact of that, and I think we also see, with this catastrophic damage to the economy, that, until we can begin to open up the economy, we can’t spend enough money to solve the problem,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, said.
The two parties are set to clash on what comes next. Pelosi and Schumer promised to produce their new major spending bill “very quickly.” They said it would be packed with unique benefits, including hazard pay for certain workers, a substantial federal cash infusion for state and local governments, a $25 billion bailout of the postal service’s debt, and more.
“Too long to list,” Schumer said.
Democrats are under pressure from liberal groups to add rent and mortgage forbearance and more direct cash payments and expanded food stamp benefits. They also want Democrats to force a change in the law to require voting by mail for the 2020 election.
“We fought so hard to win back the House in 2018, to make sure that we had a voice in negotiations like this,” a group of 21 liberal organizations said in a letter to House Democrats last week. “So far, we’ve not seen the House enough of a collective pushback on negotiations for the agenda we really need.”
It will be difficult, if not impossible, for the big bill Democrats are planning to win approval in the Senate. McConnell controls the agenda and last week downplayed a proposal to provide state and local governments with massive aid that could be used to bail out underfunded state pension programs that overpromised benefits and have run out of money.
State and local governments already received $100 billion in the legislation signed into law on March 28 and have yet to spend all of that funding.
“My view is, we ought to bring everybody back to have full participation, begin thinking about the implications to the country’s future for this level of national debt, begin to see some evidence of the economy beginning to get back to normal … and take measured steps,” McConnell said.
If McConnell hits the pause button, Democrats are more likely to negotiate with the Trump administration, which has its wish list for the next coronavirus aid measure.
Trump signaled a willingness to consider state and local aid in the next funding bill and is also hoping to include his long-held goal of implementing a “much-needed Infrastructure Investments for Bridges, Tunnels, Broadband.”
Trump is also seeking payroll tax cuts and tax incentives to increase economic growth.
The Republican-led Senate has been passing major spending bills with just a few senators present due to the coronavirus, and conservatives are becoming increasingly wary of the succession of major spending measures in a near-empty Senate chamber.
“I don’t want to see this massive accumulation of debt destroy this great country,” Sen. Rand Paul, a Kentucky Republican, warned last week.
McConnell said the Senate wouldn’t consider any new spending measure until lawmakers return to the legislative session, which is scheduled for May 4.
“And, in the meantime, also take a look at how much debt we have racked up and not try to waive something through the Senate of that consequence without full participation,” McConnell said.
