“Everyone has their own idea,” said Senator Kevin Cramer, a Republican from North Dakota, when he left a closed-door meeting.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky is pushing for Republicans to unite around a proposal that will serve as a starting point for negotiations with congressional Democrats, who have already passed a $ 3 measure. billion in May. He told reporters on Tuesday that the proposal he is lobbying for “enjoys quite significant support among Republican senators.” But he recognized, “not all”.
The problems, which had been unfolding for much of the day as Republican senators raised concerns, questions, or direct opposition to key White House principles, were uncovered at a closed-door lunch on Tuesday that they attended. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and the head of the White House. Mark Meadows staff.
“A lot of people had a lot to lose sight of,” a Republican senator told CNN. Several senators spoke out against the effectiveness of the payroll tax, the senator said. Others criticized the general path to another significant spending package entirely.
Several Republicans, according to a person in the room, raised the question that tax cuts are too costly and take too long to implement at a time when the country needs a quick boost to the economy.
“Maybe three people raised it and they all said the same thing: maybe this is not necessary,” the person said of the Republican senators who raised objections.
Meadows said administration officials viewed the lunch as a listening session and described it as “fairer, the senators speaking and expressing frustration with perhaps where things are.”
Republicans still plan to present their proposal this week, and McConnell made it clear that there remains a sense of urgency with millions of people out of work and the virus continues to plague parts of the country.
“The American job market needs another shot of adrenaline,” McConnell said.
But as Republicans work on what will end in the Republican proposal, some senators are already lining up against whatever McConnell presents.
“At lunch today I asked my fellow Republicans, ‘What the hell are we doing?'” Senator Ted Cruz, a Republican from Texas, told CNN after lunch behind closed doors. “We will see where this ends, we still do not know the details of this initial proposal, but, as it is written at the moment, I am not only a no, I am hell.”
Senator Rand Paul, a Republican from Kentucky, expressed similar sentiments when he left early for lunch, underscoring the shift in dynamics among Republican senators since the $ 2.2 billion starter package was unanimously approved in March.
The divisions between the White House and Republicans come at a time when core members have seen the president’s polls sink into key key states and when the United States has struggled to shake off control of the coronavirus as it Allies around the world have managed much better. Negotiations also occur when billions remain unspent in the latest stimulus packages, a point conservatives argue that the next round should be more specific.
Divergent views between the White House and Senate Republicans have had the effect of delaying negotiations expected to begin this week.
“We cannot negotiate on a vague concept. We need a specific bill.” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat who met in a separate meeting with Mnuchin, Meadows and Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi. “When can they give us that bill? Who knows.”
Mnuchin, citing improved unemployment funds that expire, is pushing for a deal by the end of next week.
“We will try to do something by the end of next week,” he told reporters on Capitol Hill. “That is the time period because we want to do something before unemployment insurance expires. This is a process.”
The approximately 75-minute meeting between White House negotiators and Democratic leaders represented the first substantial talks between the two sides in months. But without a Republican proposal, Meadows acknowledged that real negotiations would have to wait.
“Obviously, the leader and speaker are awaiting any guidance from Senate Republicans,” Meadows told the reporter as he left the meeting with Democrats, calling it “very good.”
One area of progress, according to Republican senators, was funding testing and tracking measures and other key public health agencies. The new funds, proposed by Senate Republicans, had become a central dispute after the White House proposed zeroing in on state testing grants and new funding for the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And the National Institutes of Health, as well as to reduce money for the efforts of the Pentagon virus.
Meadows and Mnuchin, over the course of several hours and two days, met with the three Republican senators responsible for health care and appropriation issues: Senators Richard Shelby of Alabama, Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, and Roy Blunt of Missouri, to try to resolve differences
Blunt said the staff is working to get management negotiators to receive more details about their specific requests and needs before reaching a final agreement. He called the discussions with Mnuchin and Meadows “very frank,” but said things are “moving in the right direction.”
“Like everything here, nothing is done until everything is done, but we are getting closer,” Blunt said.
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