Consensus starts to grow on 'Phase 4' coronavirus relief
Congress is finally beginning to sketch the outlines of its next big coronavirus response.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi shifted her tone on Friday, calling for a much more focused “Phase 4” relief package to address immediate needs related to the coronavirus pandemic, a departure from the sprawling legislation she and other top Democrats were pushing earlier this week.
The move puts Pelosi more on track to cut a deal with Republicans in the coming weeks, after numerous GOP officials panned her efforts to broaden the next phase of coronavirus legislation.
“Let’s do the same bill we just did, make some changes to make it current,” Pelosi told reporters in the Capitol Friday.
“While I'm very much in favor of doing some things we need to do to meet the needs — clean water, more broadband, the rest of that — that may have to be for a bill beyond that right now,” she added during an appearance on CNBC.
Pelosi held a call with her leadership team Friday afternoon where she reiterated her plan to move forward with a narrower fourth relief package, modeled after the bill Congress passed last week.
Pelosi didn’t provide a timeline for drafting the bill, per multiple sources familiar with the call.
The California Democrat said she would still push for some top Democratic priorities, including adjusting the classification for Washington, D.C., allowing it to receive an amount of federal aid in line with what states are eligible for, and pushing for additional federal worker protections for first responders and emergency personnel.
Earlier this week, Pelosi and top House Democrats were making a very different pitch — saying now was the time to think big and take a broad brush approach to addressing the economic downturn, pushing ideas like a massive infrastructure package to help jumpstart the economy.
“This is so essential because of the historic nature of the health and economic emergency that we are confronting,” Pelosi said on a call with reporters Wednesday, pitching Democrats’ ideas for the “Phase 4” bill.
“We must take bold action to renew America’s infrastructure,” she added, ticking off a list of proposals including clean water provisions, expansion of rural broadband and more funding for community health centers.
But while President Donald Trump also backed the idea of a multi-trillion dollar infrastructure package, Pelosi’s pitch was met with staunch opposition from other senior Republicans, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).
Republicans have been almost uniformly pushing a go-slow philosophy given the sheer magnitude of the bill they just approved.
Yet Republicans are also increasingly acknowledging they will need to act again, mostly in terms of extending the benefits for small businesses to pay employees and cover expenses for beyond eight weeks. Alexander said current policy could conflict with local officials ordering workers to stay at home.
"All the pieces in the puzzle don't fit together when we encourage: Pay your employees for eight weeks. And the state shuts down the restaurant," Alexander said. "And then the second one is: I think it’s going to run out of money. One big bank told me that it expects a million applications."
“We are already working on ideas for Phase 4 and we’re collecting those ideas from constituents in Colorado, we’ve got some adjustments to the CARES Act that I think would be appropriate for Phase 4," added Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.). "I'd like to see an infrastructure bill more forward. Maybe that’s Phase 4, maybe that’s Phase 5. But there’s going to be additional action required."
And privately, some Democrats have expressed concerns that such a broad plan risked alienating voters, especially if Republicans were able to convincingly claim Democrats were more focused on liberal priorities than addressing immediate coronavirus-related needs.
Pelosi’s pivot comes after startling new unemployment numbers were released showing a record 10 million Americans applying for jobless benefits in the last two weeks. The numbers are expected to rise dramatically in the coming weeks as federal agencies process claims that have been filed in the past few weeks, as the coronavirus pandemic started shuttering the U.S. economy.
"How much longer might we extend the [small business loan program], from two months to three months or three months to four months? Might we extend the unemployment insurance? Might we send a second check out?" said Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.), discussing the possibilities Congress may need to confront by the end of the month.
A source close to Pelosi said the alarming unemployment numbers have influenced her thinking on the need to limit the focus of the next legislative package but cautioned that nothing is set in stone as Democrats have yet to even draft a bill.
A timeline for any legislative action remains uncertain. Both the House and Senate are out of session until April 20 and that could be extended even longer if congressional leaders feel it isn’t safe for members to travel to and work in the Capitol.
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That will be the big battle. Pelosi wants the progressive agenda enacted in that - complete with the fraudulent ballot harvesting that corrupts democratic elections.
There is another issue. The Fed has interest rates at just about zero. They have about $4.5 Trillion available for borrowing. The Federal government will be eating up all of that.
More money should be pumped into providing masks and other essential equipment needed by our medical, police, and fire fighters.
I don't think making the Kennedy Center more attractive is very important right now (or ever).
It's good to see a more bipartisan direction aimed at positive solutions rather than the finger-pointing, blaming, xenophobia-causing, criticisms and threats that have solved nothing and been detrimental for so long.