Stimulus Talks Resume With McConnell, Pelosi Set to Meet Tuesday

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.

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.

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