Pelosi Asks McConnell to Meet on Aid, Spending: Congress Update

(Bloomberg) -- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi asked Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to meet Tuesday afternoon to discuss Covid-19 relief and a crucial government spending package, congressional aides said -- in what could be a make-or-break moment for a grand bargain after months of stalemate.

Pelosi invited McConnell, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy to a 4 p.m. meeting a day after a bipartisan group released a slimmed-down proposal for a $748 billion Covid-19 aid package that separated out the two most contentious and partisan issues.

Dick Durbin, the No. 2 Senate Democrat, said earlier Tuesday that there’s still a chance that Republicans and Democrats can work out a compromise on those two pieces -- aid to state and local authorities and a Covid-19 liability shield.

With the congressional session winding down and a government funding package needed by Friday, time is running out for an agreement.

Other Developments:

Pelosi Asks for Top Congressional Leaders to Meet (12 p.m.)

Pelosi has invited the other top three congressional leaders -- McConnell, McCarthy and her fellow Democrat Schumer -- to a 4 p.m. meeting to discuss the Covid-19 relief package and an omnibus spending bill to fund the government after a stopgap measure runs out on Friday, according to congressional aides.

Pelosi and Schumer haven’t said whether they will accept a bipartisan group’s proposal to proceed with a $748 billion Covid-19 assistance package and set aside $160 billion in state aid along with coronavirus liability protections for employers. McConnell had previously floated that separation.

Also outstanding is whether stimulus checks might be added to the aid package, as some lawmakers have called for. Meantime, differences still need to be addressed in the omnibus spending bill -- though negotiators removed the biggest roadblock on Monday, regarding whether $12.5 billion in spending for Veterans Affairs would be subject to a $1.4 trillion budget cap. Republicans succeeded in keeping it included in the cap, while Democrats said that the pay-fors in doing so were gimmicks and didn’t touch vital programs.

Two of the final sticking points on the spending bill involve Davis-Bacon Act requirements that wages for public works projects equal prevailing local levels and whether to include an agreement to curtail surprise medical bills. -- Billy House and Erik Wasson

Durbin Holds Out Hope for Deal on State Aid, Liability (11:15 a.m.)

Senator Dick Durbin, the No. 2 Democrat in that chamber, said on the Senate floor Tuesday that help is needed for states. While that item and coronavirus-related liability protection was set aside by a bipartisan negotiating group -- of which Durbin is a member -- on Monday, Durbin still hoped an agreement can be reached.

“We couldn’t agree on including that in the package. I hope that changes” as early as Tuesday, Durbin said.

“Now it’s going to be in the hands of the leadership” on how to proceed with the broader Covid-19 relief initiative, after the bipartisan group released its legislative text Monday, Durbin said.

McConnell and Schumer, the minority leader, didn’t comment on the bipartisan proposal in remarks on the Senate floor Tuesday morning. -- Laura Litvan

Leadership Plans Awaited After Bipartisan Relief Pitch (2 a.m.)

Tuesday looms as a make-or-break day for virus-related economic aid to be included as part of a government spending package needed by Friday when a stopgap federal funding bill runs out.

McConnell will hold a press briefing, giving him the opportunity to again endorse stripping out the liability protection he has long sought for the next round of Covid-19 relief, along with the state aid he opposes. A $748 billion package would be larger than the bills he favored in recent months, and he has yet to indicate whether he’d back that.

Schumer will also speaks to reporters Tuesday, after his top lieutenant Durbin, a member of the bipartisan negotiating team, said a vote should be allowed on a bill that leaves out the toughest elements to get a deal on.

Congressional leaders also may need to address pressure from some quarters to add stimulus checks to a relief bill. The bipartisan $748 billion proposal doesn’t have that, though does offer $300-per-week supplementary unemployment benefit payments.

Other areas of spending have been backed by both sides, from about $300 billion for small businesses to funding for items including education, transportation and vaccine distribution.

After working through the night, lawmakers and staff are separately hoping to release the text of a $1.4 trillion omnibus appropriations bill to fund the government into 2021. That could set up votes in the House as soon as Wednesday, although that could be delayed.

Meantime, members of the Problem Solvers group of centrist House members continue to work on liability protection, in a last ditch effort to win Democratic backing.

Coming up:

McConnell and Schumer will have press conferences on Tuesday, in which they could indicate what they are willing to include in and exclude from the coronavirus relief bill. The Senate will convene at 10 a.m. Tuesday, while the House of Representatives won’t be in session until Wednesday.

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