Congress works on Covid-19 relief deal as shutdown deadline looms

Senate Majority Whip John Thune said it's possible a brief government shutdown could occur over the weekend because it could be difficult to pass a stopgap spending bill before the Friday midnight deadline.

Asked what it would say if there was a short-term government shutdown, Thune said, “Government shutdowns are never good. If it's for a very short amount of time on a weekend hopefully it's not going to be something that would be all that harmful, but that being said, the preferable route is to keep the government open and get this done and get it done quickly.”

He also said the biggest issues in the relief negotiations are direct checks and funds involving the Federal Emergency Management Agency.  

“Checks is complicated,” he said. “Designing that in a way that maximizes the amount that an individual or family can receive and try and target it to the people who need it the most. I think is right now one of the biggest challenges. But hopefully they can get that done and then figuring out this sort of FEMA fund. How that gets distributed and putting guardrails in there to make sure that it's not just a slush fund for state and local governments which would create a lot of problems on our side.”

Part of the dynamics are this: Democrats are not eager to pass a short-term stopgap measure because they believe more pressure will force the two sides to cut a deal.

Republicans believe they need more time to talk — a couple more days. 

On a conference call with Senate Democrats, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Democrats are pushing to get the deal done immediately.

"Chuck was very adamant about shooting for tomorrow at midnight," said Sen. Joe Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat.

Among the issues that are still being sorted out in the stimulus negotiations is a push by Republicans to restrict the Federal Reserve’s emergency lending authority — something Democrats complain would hamstring President-elect Joe Biden's incoming administration.

Republicans argue that the move to constrain the Federal Reserve is fully in line with the intent of the March CARES Act, and comes after Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin last month moved to wind down emergency credit facilities, arguing it would save $455 billion unless Congress authorizes its use. 

Sen. Pat Toomey, a Republican of Pennsylvania, is pushing GOP leaders to include language he’s proposed to limit the Fed’s authority. 

But Democrats are pushing back. 

“I think it is a critical entity to continue to provide help, including to states and municipalities,” said Sen. Bob Menendez, a Democrat of New Jersey who sits on the Senate Banking Committee. “I think it’s spiteful to close the facility and not let them use those” funds. 

Here's a look at the other open issues:

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said congressional leaders are "very close to an agreement" and are working on "a few final issues" in the effort to finalize a pandemic stimulus package.

Giving remarks from the Senate floor, Schumer reiterated lawmakers' commitment to staying in Washington until a deal is reached to provide relief.

"Yesterday, House and Senate leadership worked well into the night. We resumed first thing this morning. While many, if not all, of the difficult topics are behind us, a few final issues must be hammered out. We're very close to an agreement, but the details really matter," Schumer said.

On issues that Democrats have been pushing for in a relief package, Schumer said:

He emphasized that the package they are working on would be the second largest stimulus in United States history, following the CARES Act, which was the first Covid-19 relief bill passed.

While Schumer called Republicans "intransigent" for holding up negotiations for months, and for putting Democrats in a situation where they're up against the Friday night deadline of a government shutdown, he struck a slightly different tone than usual. Rather than spend the entirety of the remarks blasting Republicans, Schumer's overall message was one of optimism and he suggested they're all now united in their goal of passing legislation.

"But we're all eager to conclude our work and deliver the relief that the American people have been waiting for. Everyone wants to see this get done and soon," Schumer said.

He underscored the urgency felt on both sides of the aisle to pass this legislation and repeated he was optimistic, saying, "None of the remaining hurdles cannot be overcome. Everyone is committed to achieving a result, and we will not leave until we get the job done."

The consensus on Capitol Hill is that there will be a relief deal after months of bickering and stalemate. But Congress is now stuck in a waiting game as the top four congressional leaders and the White House try to iron out the fine print and haggle over the final details.

Details of what's likely to be in the plan began to emerge on Wednesday, though nothing is final until legislative text is released.

Here's what we know so far about the possible deal:

While the proposal is also expected to include a $90 billion fund administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency to provide to states and cities, it will not include a large pot of money for state and local governments that Democrats had demanded. It also won't include protections from lawsuits for businesses and others that opened up during the pandemic, a key GOP priority.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer says he hopes he can get a Covid-19 relief bill on the House floor by Friday.

The bill’s remaining sticking points "are a couple of technical difficulties," he said, adding that an agreement needs to be reached on the amount of money to be allocated for families and rent subsidies. The nutritional program SNAP is also a point of negotiation, he said.

Americans "ought to be upset" Congress didn't pass a relief package earlier, and lawmakers will have to negotiate again in the future, Hoyer said.

"You ought to be upset with us. You ought to be very disturbed that your Congress is not responding," he said, adding that it’s a "moral imperative" for the Congress to pass a stimulus bill. "We need to act quickly. And we need to act with sufficient resources available to people."

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on the Senate floor that, with a shutdown deadline looming at midnight Friday, weekend work in Congress is "highly likely."

He also suggested that lawmakers may need to pass a short-term stop-gap bill to avert a shutdown and said if that’s the case, he hopes the extension is just for a "short window of time." 

"Bipartisan, bicameral committee work has full year government funding legislation on the one yard line. I’m optimistic that if we can close out our other parallel business we should be able to fund the government and move forward together," he added.

Some background: Lawmakers are up against a Friday at midnight deadline when government funding will expire.

The issue is tied up with an effort to pass a stimulus deal, with lawmakers hoping to pair the two measures together.

At this point, though, lawmakers are also discussing the potential necessity of passing a short-term stop-gap measures to avert a shutdown and allow more time for negotiations on a broader deal.

Senate Majority Whip John Thune said that a short-term stopgap is a "real possibility" since congressional leaders have not been able to close out the $900 billion Covid-19 relief deal.

Thune told CNN he hopes the continuing resolution, or stopgap, is "no more than 24 or 48 hours."

On the outstanding issues, Thune says direct payments for individuals "has been one of the last issues" to close. He said the "goal" is not to increase the $600 payments because doing so "would be a lot harder to pass."

He said they are looking at specific income benchmarks to make that work.

Thune also suggested that money for state and local governments through a fund administered by FEMA is still an issue, saying "it looks increasingly hard if it looks like a backdoor conduit" to provide money for state and local cities.

He noted there is also an ongoing debate over limiting the Fed's emergency lending program, as well as a so-called "Save our Stages" program to help entities impacted by the pandemic.

"Everybody at this point of the process has leverage," Thune said. "And everybody wants to get the best possible deal on the things that are important to them in the agreement."

New Jersey Democratic Rep. Josh Gottheimer and New York GOP Rep. Tom Reed, co-chairs of the Problem Solvers Caucus, said they are confident that there will be a stimulus agreement done by Friday.  

They are “literally within inches” of a deal, Gottheimer told CNN’s Poppy Harlow. 

Asked why it has taken so long to get to this point, Reed said he agreed “we should’ve done this months ago, we should’ve done this before the election,” but the caucus was instrumental in getting leadership to the final negotiations.

Gottheimer said the relief deal now is meant to hold over those in need until the next administration. 

“And so I think that's our goal and that's exactly why we can't leave until that happens. And then when we get a new administration, we going to have to fight for more resources,” he added. 

Watch:

New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said there is "urgency" to try to get as much included in coronavirus stimulus talks. It could be the last chance for a meaningful relief bill if Democrats do not control the Senate once President-elect Joe Biden takes office, she explained. 

The Democrat told CNN's David Axelrod on an episode of "The Axe Files" that was released Thursday that if a package is passed with limited assistance – and Democrats don't win the Senate runoff elections in January – she has "very real doubts about any willingness or appetite that he would have to work with a Biden administration to pass what would then be a third bill."