Biden Open to Negotiate on Stimulus Talks, Seeks GOP Backing

President Joe Biden said he’s open to negotiate on his $1.9 trillion Covid-19 relief proposal, and is hopeful to bring Republicans behind it, though didn’t rule out pursuing a Democrat-only route.

“I’m open to negotiate,” Biden said at a news conference on Monday. Still, he said “time is of the essence and I must tell you I’m reluctant to cherry pick and take out one or two items here.”

Biden said it would be up to lawmakers as to whether to use a budget-rule procedure in the Senate to forgo Republicans and proceed just with Democratic support. He also said that it won’t be clear if there’s a basis for agreement until the final stage of talks, which he anticipated in a “couple” of weeks.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said earlier Monday he aims to secure passage of the next round of Covid-19 relief by mid-March, just when jobless benefits from the last package will be running out.

“We’ll try to get that passed in the next month, month and a half,” Schumer said with regard to pandemic aid on Monday, speaking on a call with New York City mass-transit advocates.

A bipartisan group of senators, along with the Republican and Democratic leaders of a moderate group of House representatives, on Sunday questioned the White House on the basis for Biden’s $1.9 trillion stimulus proposal.

Brian Deese, head of Biden’s National Economic Council, was pressed on the justification for the price tag of the plan, which would be the second-largest emergency spending package on record. GOP Senator Susan Collins of Maine said she’d suggest to the bipartisan group that it look at pulling together its own, more targeted, proposal.

The Schumer timeline reflects the length it could take to craft a bill using the expedited budget “reconciliation” process needed to bypass a filibuster by minority Republicans.

“The decision to use reconciliation will depend upon how these negotiations go,” Biden said Monday.

Under reconciliation, the House and Senate would need to first draft a budget resolution for fiscal 2021. That process in the Senate involves a floor “vote-a-rama” where hundreds of amendments can be offered to the budget for simple majority votes. Those can take days to resolve.

Once a concurrent budget resolution with reconciliation instructions is adopted, committees would then need to draft legislation adhering to the outline. That legislation would then need to pass both the House and the Senate, be scored by the Congressional Budget Office and survive any rules challenges in the Senate. The second process would likely take weeks.

Using the budget-reconciliation process has its limits. Under the rules, discretionary spending such as on health and education would be difficult or impossible to qualify, along with the $15 minimum wage increase Biden wants. The $1,400 stimulus checks would likely be possible, however.

Even under that process, all 48 Democrats and the two independents who caucus with them in the Senate would need to agree assuming no Republicans join in.

Biden’s comment on being unwilling to abandon parts of his aid plan followed discussion on Sunday’s call of trying to quickly pass a funding bill for the coronavirus vaccine. Splitting that from Biden’s other priorities could see the administration lose leverage on items such as expanding family and medical leave and boosting the minimum wage, however.

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