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 While the White House termed Biden's discussion with 10 Republicans
who pitched a downsized relief effort as "productive," the
Democratic president told the senators their plan did not go far
enough.
Biden told the group "that he will not slow down work on this urgent
crisis response, and will not settle for a package that fails to
meet the moment," White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.
The Republicans who attended the meeting are pushing a COVID-19
relief proposal about one third the size of Biden's.
Earlier on Monday, top Democrats in the U.S. Senate and House of
Representatives filed a joint $1.9 trillion budget measure, a step
toward bypassing Republicans altogether on a new virus relief bill.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced the plan for the
fiscal-year 2021 budget measure in the Senate and House, saying it
would allow Congress to fast-track a coronavirus package for passage
by both chambers.
The measure would allow Democrats to bypass a 60-vote threshold in
the closely divided Senate and enact coronavirus legislation with a
simple majority through a procedure called reconciliation.
It would mark the first time congressional Democrats used the
maneuver to flex their legislative muscle since winning razor-thin
control of the Senate in two runoff elections last month in Georgia.
The 100-seat Senate is divided 50-50, with Vice President Kamala
Harris holding the tie-breaking vote to give Democrats the majority.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is expected to meet with Senate
Democrats on the relief measure on Tuesday, the department said.
Schumer spoke ahead of the Oval Office meeting on Monday evening
among Biden, Harris and the 10 Republican senators, who have
proposed a $618 billion relief package.
Susan Collins, one of the Republicans attending, said the discussion
was "frank and useful" but yielded no breakthroughs. She said the
sides would keep talking.
What “we did agree to do was to follow up and talk further at the
staff level and amongst ourselves and with the president and vice
president on how we can continue to work together on this very
important issue,” Collins said.
Biden affirmed to the group, however, that he was prepared to push
through a comprehensive bill with a party-line vote, Psaki said.
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 The president "reiterated that
while he is hopeful that the Rescue Plan can
pass with bipartisan support, a reconciliation
package is a path to achieve that end," Psaki
said. COVID-19 has claimed more
than 440,000 lives in the United States, the most of any country,
and cost millions of Americans their jobs.
'MUST-HAVES'
The Republican plan offers no assistance to state and local
governments, one of the items that a Biden adviser described as
"must-haves" for Democrats in Congress.
According to details released by the lawmakers, the Republican
proposal also falls short on another must-have by offering only
$1,000 in direct payments to Americans, compared with the $1,400
sought by Biden.
"We have not seen many red lines drawn publicly by Democrats in
Congress. I think we will see those red lines if the White House
considers taking some things out or delaying some items," the
adviser said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Passage of new relief legislation would not only affect Americans
and businesses but offer an early test of Biden's promise to work to
bridge the partisan divide in Washington.
Ten Republican votes, combined with the backing of 50 Democrats and
independents, would be enough to move bipartisan legislation quickly
through the Senate. There was little cooperation between the two
parties on major legislation in Congress under Republican former
President Donald Trump.
Senator Pat Toomey, who does not back the compromise proposal
offered by fellow Republicans, said in a statement that the
government needed to focus on vaccine distribution at this juncture
of the pandemic rather than economic stimulus.
"Once we’ve made significant progress on this goal, then Congress
can revisit what pockets of the economy still require assistance,”
Toomey said.
(Reporting by David Morgan and Jarrett Renshaw; Writing by James
Oliphant; Editing by Heather Timmons and Peter Cooney)
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