WASHINGTON (AP) – A new plan by Senate Republicans to grant businesses, schools, and universities broad exemptions from lawsuits stemming from inadequate coronavirus safeguards is putting Republicans and Democrats at odds as Congress reconvenes the next week to negotiate another aid package.
The liability proposal, drafted by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, and R-John Cornyn of Texas, promises to protect employers when clients and workers are exposed to the coronavirus by filing lawsuits in court and limiting legal liability to acts of “gross negligence or willful misconduct,” according to a draft plan obtained by The Associated Press.
Supporters say the plan protects companies and other employers who adhere to the public health guidelines in good faith. Opponents argue that it will allow irregularities to go unpunished. It is up to Congress to resolve the debate, with the likely outcome of determining what legal remedy is available to Americans who contract the virus.
“Even if companies and hospitals follow all the relevant guidelines and act in good faith, they could end up fighting a very long and very expensive lawsuit,” Cornyn said. “They could end up winning that lawsuit, but they could also end up bankrupt in the process.
In court, gross negligence amounts to “reckless disregard” for the safety of others, which is a high standard to meet. Routine negligence, by contrast, occurs when a business owner does not take reasonable precautions to protect people from the COVID-19 threat. The standard proposed by the Republican Party would apply retroactively to when the coronavirus began circulating in December and would run until at least 2024.
McConnell has said for months that some sort of shield of responsibility will be on the next COVID response action, and told an audience in Kentucky on Wednesday that he will not send the next and fifth coronavirus response bill to the floor without it.
The civil liability shield is just one of the difficult problems lawmakers face when they launch negotiations on another coronavirus bill with competing priorities. Other major battles involve whether to renew an additional $ 600 a week federal unemployment benefit, how much assistance to send to state and local governments, and whether to satisfy President Donald Trump’s desire for Social Security payroll taxes.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat from California, is firmly on the opposite side of the liability plan, pushing instead for emergency workplace regulations to protect paramedics, emergency medical personnel and other health workers at risk of exposure to COVID-19 in their workplace.
The $ 3.5 billion House Democratic measure, passed two months ago, requires the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, or OSHA, to issue temporary emergency COVID safety standards for employers immediately after the law’s enactment. That is not a start with the Republican Party.
“They have resisted, in the past, any strong OSHA standard, and that is absolutely essential for us to have to protect our workers, at all times, but an even stronger one at the time of the coronavirus,” Pelosi said Thursday. .
Traditionally, the nation’s litigation attorneys have been highly influential with Democrats in Congress, and while they have absorbed a few defeats over the years, they cannot be dismissed as a lobbying force. Earlier this year, for example, a minor liability issue involving facial masks turned into a big behind-the-scenes fight before manufacturers like 3M prevailed.
The Republican proposal, which was distributed only in summary form, offers a broad shield by demanding higher defense standards that reinforce the burden of proof standards and limit damage to prizes. Employers would also be protected from investigations by federal agencies.
Pelosi and Senate Top Democrat Chuck Schumer of New York are not completely closing the door on McConnell’s lawsuit. The accountability shield is a priority not only for the Republican Party’s corporate allies, but also for local universities and school districts.
“This is a critical issue for a wide range of employers, from distillers who switched to the production of hand sanitizers, to manufacturers who transformed their operations to build personal protective equipment (PPE) and ventilators, to front-line medical professionals who treat those affected, “the United States Chamber of Commerce said in a letter this week to top Capitol Hill leaders.
Defenders of the civil liability shield know they are in a great fight. Given McConnell’s determination on the issue, some variant of the shield of responsibility is likely to pass, but it will surely drop significantly. Pelosi is also an expert on trade concessions on Republican Party priorities for additional funding, and the liability issue promises to be among the final points resolved when negotiations conclude next month, along with unemployment benefits.
“I think it’s interesting that the first proposal Republicans offer is something they negotiated with lobbyists that protects big corporations,” minority leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y. said on Friday.
