New bipartisan relief proposal has strengths but little chance

It does not appear that the 116th Congress will end up passing another COVID-19 relief bill unless leadership starts making some serious concessions. Republicans don’t want to spend $3.4 trillion, as called for in the House’s HEROES Act, and Democratic leadership has balked at more fiscally conscious Republican proposals as woefully insufficient.

Amid the monthslong gridlock, another attempt at a deal was extinguished on Tuesday when eight House chairmen rejected a bipartisan proposal put together by the House Problem Solvers Caucus, a group with both Democratic and Republican legislators.