House Dems softening on demand for state cash injections to reach a Covid relief deal

Democrats could be relenting on their demand for an infusion of federal dollars in the Covid-19 relief package to help state and local governments respond to the crisis, a key party leader said on Sunday.

House Democrats “are not going to get everything we want. We think state and local (aid) is important. And if we can get that we want to get it. But we want to get aid out to the people who are really, really struggling and are at grave risk,” House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, the second highest ranking Democrat in the chamber, said in an interview with CNN on Sunday.

The issue of providing billions more dollars in state and local aid has been one of the major sticking points preventing Republicans and Democrats in DC from reaching an agreement on a new  relief package.

The other major obstacle has been Republicans’ stipulation that any potential bill addressing the pandemic provide a shield from Covid-related liability lawsuits for businesses, health care facilities, and school systems.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said last week that Republicans would be willing to relent on their demand for such a liability shield if Democrats dropped their insistence on more state and local aid. 

And while Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer panned Mr McConnell’s olive branch, Mr Hoyer’s remarks on Sunday suggested Democrats may be coming to the conclusion that this is the only path forward for a deal that has eluded lawmakers for more than four months.

“[Speaker Nancy Pelosi] and I spent a lot of time on the phone together. And I am very hopeful that next week, we will be able to act on substantial relief,” Mr Hoyer told CNN.

He suggested there would be more time to cobble together a more comprehensive deal at a later date, when President-elect Joe Biden is in the White House.

“We need to get the essential done,” Mr Hoyer said. “We'll have time to get stuff done that we didn't include because we couldn't get political agreement, we'll have time to do that.”

Ms Pelosi has set an absolute deadline for passing more Covid relief for 26 December, when the Covid federal unemployment program that gives recently laid-off Americans $600 per week is set to expire.

But lawmakers, eager to leave Washington so they can be home with their families for Christmas, are keen on striking a deal worth roughly $1trillion, to bolt onto the $1.4tn government appropriations package that is shaping up for a final vote this coming Friday, by 18 December.

A group of moderate Republican and Democratic senators who have been working to bust the partisan stalemate have said they are set to release a bill on Monday.

Mr McConnell signaled last week that his Senate GOP conference does not favour the contours of that proposal, worth roughly $900billion.

But party leaders could use it as a framework for an eventual deal that gets tacked onto the appropriations omnibus next Friday.

“There will be a deal,” Louisiana Republican Senator Bill Cassidy said in a separate interview on CNN on Sunday.