Washington Post economics reporter Jeffrey Stein said on Hill.TV’s “Rising” Thursday that Republicans are having a difficult time finding a common ground within their caucus as negotiations over the HEROES Act move forward.
“The divisions between Republicans themselves are incredibly intense over this issue,” Stein said. “They cannot agree on some very elementary things here.”
Stein said that the main division is between members who wish to allocate some new funds, and those Republicans who would prefer to avoid additional government spending and instead adjust provisions in the CARES Act, the stimulus act passed in March.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) railed against his own party this week, saying there was “no difference” between Republicans and Democrats on spending.
“The core tension here is that a lot of Republicans were elected and self-conceive of themselves as Tea Party conservatives, as free-market conservatives, as people who do not believe in a lot of additional government spending, and they’re being forced in this pandemic to do exactly that,” Stein said. “For a lot of them it’s a bridge too far.”
However, time is running out for the programs lawmakers are currently negotiating. Federal eviction moratoria and unemployment benefits from the CARES Act both expire on Friday.
“There are 30 million people or more desperately looking to Congress right now to figure out what is going to happen and the pressure is only going to intensify dramatically once benefits start getting cut off,” Stein said, referring to the number of Americans who are currently unemployed.
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