By Jennifer Shutt and Lindsey McPherson
CQ-Roll Call
Congressional leaders plan to meet Tuesday afternoon to try to nail down agreements on the $1.4 trillion omnibus spending package and a coronavirus relief bill that could deliver up to $1 trillion in additional aid.
The 4 p.m. in-person meeting, confirmed by sources familiar with the planning, is likely the last chance for a deal before government funding expires Friday at midnight with just a few days left to draft the legislative text, sell it to the rank and file and vote in both chambers.
The vast majority of disputes on the omnibus package for fiscal 2021 have been resolved, according to aides involved in the talks who were not authorized to speak publicly. But the late afternoon “big four” meeting of the top lawmakers in both chambers signals text may not be filed until late Tuesday at the earliest.
“I think it’s possible that it’ll be today” that the omnibus gets filed, according to Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas. “They keep kicking back the deadline for putting your pencil down.”
One possibility that’s been discussed, according to a source familiar with the talks, is filing the fiscal 2021 appropriations portion of the omnibus on Tuesday but taking some extra time to draft the COVID-19 package before adding it as a managers’ amendment during House Rules Committee consideration.
On Monday night, Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s spokesman Drew Hammill said she talked to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to try to nail down outstanding items as well as ancillary disputes on energy and health care legislation negotiators are expected to attach to the omnibus.
She also made another pitch to Mnuchin for direct state and local government aid in a final COVID-19 aid bill, though in comments to reporters Monday Pelosi didn’t condition her support for any deal on the inclusion of direct state and local government funds.
A bipartisan group of legislators released two bills on Monday totaling $908 billion, but there was considerable pressure to drop the two most contentious pieces: $160 billion for states and localities and business liability protections in the event customers, employees or vendors get sick.
Democrats, with the exception of West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin III, remain opposed to how the group drafted the liability protections. And without a liability deal, Republicans won’t accept the state and local funds.
Members of the House Problem Solvers Caucus who were part of the bipartisan House-Senate group have continued discussions on the liability language to try to reaching agreement at least among themselves. Their goal was to announce a single $908 billion package on Wednesday, but it wasn’t clear they’d have time to convince their respective party leaders.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell suggested last week that Congress set aside the issues of state and local aid and liability protections until next year, allowing lawmakers to pass unemployment aid, funding to help small businesses, money for vaccine distribution and funding for other items with broad bipartisan support.
Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer rejected that suggestion last week but several Democrats have started to say the party may have to take what it can get for now.
Schumer still appeared to be holding out hope for some additional funding for states for vaccine distribution Tuesday morning.
“We need to fully fund not only production of the vaccine but its distribution as well. The states need that money,” he said on the Senate floor.
