The President is attempting to meet Republican senators halfway.
As President Joe Biden finishes his swath of executive order signings, his next major priority is enacting a new COVID-19 relief plan for the United States that would ensure citizens have enough money to survive the next few months and that vaccines are properly distributed. Biden’s current plan draft has met heavy opposition from Republican senators and Congress members, due primarily to its $1.9 trillion price tag.
In an effort to gain the support of both ends of the political spectrum, Biden will be meeting with a group of ten GOP senators today in an effort to workshop a bipartisan relief plan. The senators in question all worked on the relief plan that was enacted in December, and personally sent a message to Biden with their own proposal.
“With your support, we believe Congress can once again craft a relief package that will provide meaningful, effective assistance to the American people and set us on a path to recovery,” their message read. “We recognize your calls for unity and want to work in good faith with your administration to meet the health, economic and societal challenges of the COVID crisis.”
In their message, they also included several preliminary suggestions for a scaled-back version of Biden’s current draft. These suggestions include reducing stimulus payments to $1,000 instead of $1,400, offering $300 extra unemployment relief instead of $400, focusing money on K-12 schools and a national vaccination program, and axing support to state and local governments.
While Biden is open to working with the GOP senators, the notion of passing a bill without Republican support is still on the table. “I support passing Covid relief with support from Republicans if we can get it,” he told reporters Friday. “But the Covid relief has to pass, there’s no ifs, ands or buts.”
If Biden decides to forgo Republican support, he will have to rely exclusively on Democratic votes in the Senate. In the event of a filibuster, at least 10 Republican votes would be required.
