Speaker Nancy Pelosi told fellow House Democrats she is finalizing an economic relief package that would compete with a $2 trillion Senate bill that is up for a procedural vote later Sunday.
“Our Committee Chairs have worked diligently to present legislation which recognizes the gravity of the coronavirus challenge,” the California Democrat said in a letter.
Pelosi said the negotiations with the Senate are continuing.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, postponed a 3 p.m. vote to advance the legislation when it became clear he lacked the Democratic support needed to avoid a filibuster.
The vote is now scheduled for 6 p.m. to give lawmakers more time to negotiate. If a deal can be reached, Pelosi would not need to take up a vote on the bill she’s now drafting.
“Our staffs now—Democrats and Republicans—are working to change the problematic provisions and others in the bill, and I hope we can come up with a truly bipartisan agreement—that means that Democrats and Republicans—before 6:00 p.m.,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, said Sunday.
Democrats want more of their agenda included in the legislation, including worker protections, more money for the states to pay for dealing with the coronavirus, longer unemployment insurance benefits, additional funding for food stamps, and eliminating $10,000 from the balances of student borrowers.
The wish list would increase the cost of the massive bill by hundreds of billions of dollars.
Democrats are critical of a provision in the bill, authored by Republicans and the White House, to provide $500 billion in aid to big industries such as airlines and hotels. Republicans said the money is meant to serve as a lifeline to companies that employ millions of people, but Democrats call it a “slush fund,” without enough regulations attached to it. The money could be given to Trump properties, for example, Democrats said.
“There is at this time a big difference,” Pelosi said, between the bill the House is formulating and the Senate measure, which was drafted after days of bipartisan negotiations, and includes many of the provisions Democrats had sought.
