Negotiations on a bill to combat the coronavirus dragged on over the weekend, with the clock ticking for Congress to pass legislation on urgently needed aid, as well as an omnibus government spending measure. The Senate suspends Saturday evening to Sunday 1:00 p.m. without an agreement.
President Trump has signed the hastily drawn ongoing resolution passed by the House and Senate on Friday night, extending the deadline for Congress to pass a funding bill by an additional 48 hours.
Senator Dick Durbin confirmed to reporters on Saturday that “it won’t be tonight.”
Congressmen seemed no closer to a deal on Saturday, although they insisted the negotiations were coming to an end.
“We are within reach,” speaker Nancy Pelosi assured House Democrats in a conference call with members of her caucus on Saturday. Chuck Schumer, leader of minorities in the Senate, said in a speech on the Senate floor that it is “time for a conclusion,” adding “we are close to an agreement, but we must finalize it.”
Senate leader Mitch McConnell also said Congress must “wrap up our talks, legislate and land this plane.”
“There’s a kind of gravity here in Congress where, unless we’re careful, any major negotiation can easily slip into an endless series of disagreements. Let’s be wary of that,” McConnell said.
Despite these words from McConnell, there is one final sticking point in the negotiations: a proposal introduced by GOP Senator Pat Toomey and backed by the Republican Conference, that would phase out the Federal Reserve’s emergency credit programs enacted by CARES law in March.
“The legislation, my language, which I am trying to get into this package, reiterates that these CARES facilities will end on December 31, as Congress intended,” Toomey said in a speech on the Senate floor on Saturday.
However, the Democrats argue that there is still a need for these loan programs and accuse Republicans of deteriorating the economic outlook ahead of President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration.
“The biggest obstacle is this latecomer to the party that is damaging to the economy for me and slowing us down from reaching this agreement. It would forever prohibit the president from doing exactly what President Obama did at the time of the Great. recession, “Pelosi told House Democrats in Saturday’s call, referring to the credit programs put in place by the Fed in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis.” It’s a way for them to tell Joe Biden that we have your hands. to tie. Whatever gets on the pike, you can’t do this. ‘
Toomey met Schumer in the minority leader’s office later on Saturday.
“I think we should be able to make a deal, I don’t know the timeframe,” said Toomey.
Senator John Thune, the Republican majority whip, said he believed the negotiations could be concluded by Sunday, but warned the negotiations could last until next week.
“I think at this point the probably most likely scenario is that it might start on Monday, but I think we’re on the homestretch, we’re on the glide slope,” Thune told reporters Saturday.
Louisiana Republican Senator John Kennedy had a bleak view of the likelihood that a deal would be reached on Sunday.
“I don’t think this will be resolved any time soon,” Kennedy told reporters on Saturday. “I could see us here until New Year’s Eve or Christmas Eve.”