GOP leaders at White House as virus crisis deepens

Washington, July 20

Top Republicans in Congress met Monday with President Donald Trump at the White House on the next COVID-19 aid package as the crisis many hoped would have improved has dramatically worsened, just as emergency relief is expiring.

New divisions between the Senate GOP majority and the White House posed fresh challenges. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was prepared to roll out the USD 1 trillion package in a matter of days. But the administration panned more virus testing money and interjected other priorities that could complicate quick passage.

“We have to end this virus,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said Monday on MSNBC.

Pelosi said any attempt by the White House to block testing money “goes beyond ignorance”.

Lawmakers were returning to a Capitol still off-limits to tourists, another sign of the nation’s difficulty containing the coronavirus.

Rather than easing, the pandemic’s devastating cycle was happening all over again, leaving Congress little choice but to engineer another costly rescue.

Businesses were shutting down again, schools could not fully reopen and jobs were disappearing, all while federal aid expired.

Without a successful federal strategy, lawmakers are trying to draft one.

Trump insisted again Sunday that the virus would “disappear”, but the president’s view did not at all match projections from the leading health professionals straining to halt the alarming US caseload and death toll.

“It’s not going to magically disappear,” said a sombre McConnell, R-Ky., last week during a visit to a hospital in his home state to thank front-line workers.

McConnell and House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy were set to meet with Trump and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin “to fine-tune” the legislation, acting chief of staff Mark Meadows said on Fox News.

The political stakes were high for all sides before the November election, but even more so for the nation, which now registered more coronavirus infections and a higher death count of 140,500 than any other country.

The House already approved Pelosi’s sweeping USD 3 trillion effort, giving Democrats momentum heading into negotiations.

The package from McConnell had been quietly crafted behind closed doors for weeks and was expected to include USD 75 billion to help schools reopen, reduced unemployment benefits alongside a fresh round of direct USD 1,200 cash payments to Americans, and a sweeping five-year liability shield against coronavirus lawsuits.

But as the White House weighed in, it has put the administration at odds with GOP allies in Congress. The administration was panning some $25 billion in proposed new funds for testing and tracing, said one Republican familiar with the discussions.

Trump was also reviving his push for a payroll tax break, which was being seriously considered, said another Republican. Both spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the private talks. AP