MORGANTOWN — Congressional talks on the next and possibly final COVID-19 relief bill, the $1 trillion HEALS Act, continue their progress – some would contend at a glacial pace.
Sens. Joe Manchin and Shelley Moore Capito offered their thoughts Thursday on where thing stand. Manchin held a virtual press conference and Capito spoke to The Dominion Post by phone.
Capito, R-W.Va., said she held another of her tele-town halls recently and perceived some impatience with the slow progress of the bill.
“I think that there is a sense of frustration among west Virginians that we’re not reaching a conclusion here,” she said. She hopes that the pressure she feels building is also being felt in the White House and among Democrat leadership.
While Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell brought the bill to the floor, he has not been directly involved in the talks, media reports say. Those are taking place between Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and White House chief of staff Mark Meadows on the GOP side, and Democratic leaders including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.
“Sen. McConnell’s not in the room I don’t believe,” Capito said, “but he certainly has a presence and is talking constantly with the White House on these issues.”
Manchin, D-W.Va., said “Its a shame that we couldn’t work out something sooner.” McConnell should have called a working group a month ago. His own talks with rank-and-file Republicans show they’re not that far apart, but both sides appear to be looking to their national bases.
Manchin
One sticking point, he said, is settling on a figure for continuing additional unemployment compensation above what states provide. The GOP has proposed $200 a week, and he’s aware that the weekly $600 from CARES served as a disincentive for some to return to work, where they would earn less.
Manchin said he would have preferred to see the figure set as a percentage of income rather than a flat amount. “If you lost your job and and we closed the business you worked at because of the pandemic, you should be able to draw your full salary from unemployment benefits unto we get the economy back up or we have working vaccine.”
His gut feeling, he said, is that the compromise will fall in the $300-$400 range and will come soon. Meanwhile, states should use some of their money to upgrade their employment tracking systems. Inadequate systems bogged down the compensation process.
Manchin said hes conveyed his wish list to the negotiators of both side. It includes an $800 million emergency fund to insert into the bill for the Administration for Children and Families to use to help homeless children, and dedicated assistance for rural hospitals. There is about $62 billion unused from $175 billion of health care funding in CARES and another $25 billion in HEALS. He wants to see 20% of that, $40 billion, to go to rural hospitals.
“I’m assured there’s going to be extra money for rural hospitals to keep them moving,” he said.
The two sides also remain apart of the duration of liability protection for employers, schools and health care providers – to limit lawsuits for COVID exposure. McConnell wants protection to extend through 2024. Manchin wants to see it last until commercial quantities of a vaccine are available, so sometime the first quarter 2021.
COVID care and relief requires sound broadband connections in West Virginia and across the country fur such things as telehealth for veterans and families, and for education, Manchin said. He and Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, have introduced a separate bill called the ACCESS the Internet Act, which provides $2 billion to do such things as provie WiFi hotspots through libraries.
The Dominion Post aske Manchin his thoughts of GOV. Jim Justice’s just-announced Kids Connect plan, which allocated $6 million of CARES money to establish over 1,000 free wireless internet access points statewide by Sept. 8, with locations in all 55 counties.
Manchin said, “That’s what the money he received should be spent for. … I’m very pleased if there’s more being done by the state to assist in education or any other realm.”
Regarding a vote on the bill, Manchin said they’ve been told to be prepared to be there next week. “My gut tells me well be voting next Wednesday at the latest.
President Trump has been threatening to act ia executive orders if Congress doesn’t get he bill done. Manchin said, “I can understand the aggravation of having a working legislature not able to come together on something and meet a deadline.” But the President doesn’t have the appropriation authority, unless he has an existing slush fund he can shuffle around.
Capito
Capito addressed the reported division in the Senate GOP, where about 20 fiscal hawks oppose raising the national debt with another bill. Some members feel that Congress hasn’t been diligent enough in overseeing the money it’s already appropriated, she said.
“I’m more concerned about the people that don’t have a job, that can’t go back to school, that are worried about not being able to get a vaccine or good access to testing.” The need necessitates another package.
A variety of unemployment proposals have been floated, she said. Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, has one to reduce the benefit by $100 every month. Another puts the weekly amount around $400. “I think there’s a feeling that I agree with that we need to move that [$600] down and make it more in line with what people were making when they were working.”
But part of the holdup is politics, with some seeing an advantage to holding out as long as possible. “I have to think that there’s got to be a desire [to compromise] and that we’re not going to hold people who are unemployed through no fault of their own hostage when they need a little kick in their unemployment.”
Another sticking point is the issue of assistance to states. Capito favors flexibility for revenue replacement. But Schumer, from New York, and Pelosi, from California, want $900 billion more in state assistance.
“I think that’s an unreasonable request,” she said. There’s still $1 trillion from CAES needing to go out and West Virginia hasn’t spent its full $1.25 billion.
Bars and restaurants continue to suffer and HEALS includes an extension of the Paycheck Protection Program to help businesses employing 300 or less. All they have to do for a loan is show a revenue downturn and every bar and restaurant could show that, she said.
HEALS contains $105 billion for education, Capito said. It has $70B for K-12 schools, $30 billion for higher education and $5 billion for some flex spending for governors. Both sides are pretty close on that issue. It also includes $15 billion for hospitals.
Capito co-sponsored a measure included in HEALS to provide just over $4 billion for substance abuse prevention and treatment, mental health services, behavioral health, suicide prevention and some other issues.
During the pandemic, she said, the opioid crisis continued, with overdoses and deaths rising and telehealth falling off. “We’ve taken our eye off the ball because we’ve been concentrating on COVID.”
She and her cosponsors hope for a vote on that by itself soon if no vote on HEALS is forthcoming, she said.
When the HEALS vote might come, she doesn’t know, but soon would be best. “Its a day-to-day thing. I certainly hope so. I’m pushing for that.” Unemployment filings are rising, there are a lot of needs and the leaders need to throw the politics out.
On Trup’s possible executive orders, she somewhat agrees with Manchin, “I think that shows his frustration with the inability for any kind of give on the part of Speaker Pelosi and Sen. Schumer.”
But she doesnt know what authority he has since spending must originate in the House. “I wouldn’t want to see us discontinue the talks because he’s able to put a Band Aid on one or two things.”
Tweet David Beard@dbeardtdp Email dbeard@dominionpost.com
