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Congress will try again to wrap up its big-ticket to-do list and send members home for Christmas this week. That’s a tall order.
Congress’s list is small, but basically it’s the same one it has faced since coming back after the Nov. 3 election: legislation to provide a second, big coronavirus aid package to bolster an economy showing increased signs of weakness and a funding bill to allow the government to keep the lights on past Friday, when current funding expires.
And there’s a wild card that could also take up lawmakers’ time: a veto override of a massive annual defense policy bill. The bill cleared the Senate Friday, ensuring it will land on President Donald Trump’s desk, where he has threatened to veto it, variously over language insisting on the removal of Confederate named from U.S. military facilities and an unwillingness to add a provision stripping legal protections from social-media companies, despite the overwhelming votes in the defense bill’s favor in the House and Senate. (Trump on Sunday added the complaint that the defense bill was pro-China.)
On the aid front, there are several avenues in play. A group of bipartisan senators has been touting a proposal that could total as much as $908 billion. At the same time, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Sunday she was still talking with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin about a deal.
Sen. Joe Manchin, the West Virginia Democrat who is a central figure of the bipartisan group, said Sunday that Senate colleagues will get a chance to evaluate the group’s proposal today.
“You’ll see a complete bill tomorrow before the end of the day. Then, you can choose if you like it or not — vote for it or vote against it,” Manchin said on “Fox News Sunday.”
He said the bill was meant to be a stopgap measure until the spring.
But he acknowledged two big issues — a Democratic ask for more money for state and local governments and a Republican ask for liability protections for businesses and nonprofits — remained sticking points.
Pelosi’s spokesman, Drew Hammill, noted the state-and-local issue in a series of Tweets on Sunday evening describing a 30-minute Pelosi-Mnuchin talk, saying that aid was “even more important” with states at the front lines of vaccinations.
If lawmakers reach an agreement on coronavirus relief — a big if — they would still need to decide if they want to attach it to the must-pass funding bill due Friday. A massive combination bill would have a hefty price tag and invite criticism for lumping together unrelated items, but it could also give House members and senators who oppose either part an excuse to vote in favor.
Sen. Richard Shelby, the Alabama Republican who heads the Senate Appropriations Committee, said Friday that the funding portion was almost done, with money for the Department of Veterans Affairs among the last items needing to be wrapped up. He wanted a combo bill.
“I have advocated all along we ought to tie them together, link the COVID relief to the other,” he told reporters. “I’d like to see them move in tandem.”
While the Senate returns to work Monday, the House remains out after members left Washington on Thursday. House Democratic leaders have said they do not expect to bring members back until Tuesday at the earliest as they wait for legislation to be written.
