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THE BIG DEAL–McConnell sets first coronavirus stimulus package vote for Sunday: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has set up the first vote related to a mammoth stimulus package over the coronavirus for Sunday.
McConnell on Friday teed up a “shell” bill — essentially a place holder for the agreement, if one is reached.
“I just filed cloture on the motion to proceed to a shell that will serve as the vehicle. … Member-level discussion is going on as we speak. The goal is to reach agreements on each of the four components of the legislation by the end of the day,” he said.
- Under Senate rules, the earliest the first procedural vote could happen is Sunday.
- The package is expected to cost approximately $1 trillion, though GOP senators didn’t rule out that the number could climb as they negotiate with Democrats.
- McConnell’s decision to tee up the spending package comes as senators, their staff and top administration officials are still behind closed doors trying to reach an agreement.
The negotiations are focused on four groups: health care, small business, tax and impacted industries like airlines.
Multiple sticking points remain as staffers scramble behind closed doors. Here are five to watch:
- Cash assistance: The Senate GOP plan provides $1,200 in a one-time check for Americans who make up to $75,000 annually. But that provision has sparked criticism from both Republicans and Democrats.
- Hospital funding: Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) said after another round of negotiations that the question of how to provide funding for hospitals was a sticking point.
- Industry ‘bailout’: Democrats are raising concerns that the Republican bill is overly focused on corporations, not individual workers.
- Paid sick leave: Democrats want to use the third coronavirus package to expand paid sick leave. But the Senate GOP bill would place restrictions on paid sick leave and paid family leave.
- White House supplemental: In addition to the mammoth stimulus package, Congress is also looking at a $45.8 billion request from White House Budget Chief Russ Vought, who said the additional funding is needed to combat the coronavirus pandemic.
LEADING THE DAY
Four senators sold stocks before coronavirus threat crashed market: Four senators sold stocks shortly after a January briefing in the Senate on the novel coronavirus outbreak, unloading shares that plummeted in value a month later as the stock market crashed in the face of a global pandemic.
According to financial disclosure forms, Sens. Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.), James Inhofe (R-Okla.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Richard Burr (R-N.C.) each sold hundreds of thousands of dollars in stocks within days of the Senate holding a classified briefing on Jan. 24 with Trump administration officials on the threat of the coronavirus outbreak.
The sales raise questions about whether the senators violated the STOCK Act, a law that bans members of Congress from making financial trades based on nonpublic information. I break down the trades here.
Tax experts urge Congress to redesign coronavirus rebate checks: Tax experts are urging lawmakers to make changes to the coronavirus rebate checks being considered by Senate Republicans.
Economic policy analysts at think tanks have flagged several aspects of the checks proposal that they think are problematic, including the fact that the lowest-income people wouldn’t qualify for the full amount of the checks, and that the check amounts that people would receive in the near-term are based on their 2018 income.
As Republicans and Democrats race to reach a deal, experts hope that improvements will be made to any rebates proposal included in the final package so that it better helps low-income people. The Hill’s Naomi Jagoda explains here.
GOOD TO KNOW
- Thousands of travel organizations have teamed up on a letter calling on lawmakers to give the industry $300 billion in federal aid as the Senate negotiates a third coronavirus relief bill.
- Stocks closed Friday with steep losses after a morning rally reversed into a nosedive to finish Wall Street’s worst week since the depths of the Great Recession.
- Economic experts are warning that the $1.2 trillion stimulus proposal under negotiation in the Senate may fall well short of addressing the massive fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.
- A group of 14 lawmakers is asking the Trump administration to help out the offshore energy industry amid a decline in oil prices linked to international disputes and the coronavirus pandemic.
- A federal judge on Friday issued a stay of House Democrats’ lawsuit aimed at obtaining President Trump’s tax returns, after an appeals court agreed to rehear a different case that touches on some of the same legal issues.
- Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Friday said that the deadline for filing tax returns is being moved from April 15 to July 15, after his department earlier this week similarly extended the due date for tax payments amid the coronavirus.
ODDS AND ENDS
- The United Kingdom is moving to help pay up to 80 percent of wages for all U.K. workers to keep the economy afloat through the coronavirus emergency, the government announced Friday.
- A group of Democratic senators sent a letter to Amazon on Friday pressing the online retailer about workplace safety at its distribution facilities amid the spread of coronavirus.
- Delivery and take-out options are twice as popular as usual amid the coronavirus, according to data compiled by Yelp.