Stimulus talks to miss McConnell’s Monday deadline

GOP senators say they do not expect a deal on a mammoth stimulus package on Monday, even as negotiations continue.

Members of the Senate Republican leadership team emerged from a closed-door meeting on Monday predicting that congressional leadership and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin would not be able to wrap up the stimulus deal by the end of the day.

“Doesn’t look like it at the moment. … I hope I’m wrong. I hope they’ll decide to come together,” Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), McConnell’s No. 2, told reporters after the meeting when asked if they could get a deal on Monday.

Even if they could, the GOP senators noted, staffers would still need to finalize drafting the legislation, kicking the Senate’s work into at least Tuesday and guaranteeing the chamber misses Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s stated timeline of passing the bill by Monday.

“The wish list isn’t getting bigger. It’s getting shorter, but we’re not going to have a deal today,” said Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), an adviser to McConnell.

He added that the earliest a vote could happen — if they are able to reach an agreement and all 100 senators give consent — is Tuesday. McConnell has warned that without cooperation, passage of the bill could be delayed until at least Friday or Saturday.

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) added that his takeaway from the meeting was that there would not be a deal Monday. Even if there was, he added, staffers would still have to finish drafting it, something he said could not be done by the end of the day.

“We just had a discussion, and things probably can’t get done tonight, and there were no details about the things that were in dispute,” he said after the GOP leadership meeting.

The pessimism over the chances of a deal Monday comes even as Mnuchin and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) both predicted they would be able to get a deal Monday.

Minutes before Democrats blocked the GOP stimulus plan for a second time in as many days, Schumer said he was “confident” that they would be able to reach an agreement Monday.

“We’re very close to reaching a deal, very close, and our goal is to reach a deal today, and we’re hopeful, even confident, that we will meet that goal,” Schumer said from the Senate floor.

A spokesman didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Monday about the GOP remarks.

A source familiar with the talks said the agreement under discussion would include Democratic priorities such as expanded paid leave, increased federal food assistance programs and state stabilization funding.

But sticking points continued to crop up throughout the day, with GOP aides accusing Democrats of trying to add unrelated energy provisions and objecting to help for farmers. Democrats, meanwhile, say Republicans want to use the bill to extend an abstinence education program.

Other areas still unresolved include how to address student loans, paid sick leave and worker safety standards.

“They want to achieve a lot of their wish list through this crisis,” Thune told reporters.

Eric Ueland, the director of legislative affairs for the White House, told reporters on Monday evening that he and Mnuchin were continuing to negotiate, even as GOP senators did not expect an agreement by the end of the day.

“I wouldn’t rule anything out. We’re plugging away,” he said when asked if there would not be a deal on Monday.

“We’re exchanging a lot of ideas, legislative language, proposals back and forth, so there’s a lot of work that’s being done to try to finalize, and we do believe that Sen. Schumer and Democrats are operating in good faith,” he said.

Asked about provisions unrelated to the coronavirus, he noted that both House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Democrats had floated ideas, either in negotiations or in discussions about the House coronavirus bill.

“We’ve been clear with Senate Democrats when those ideas come on the table our lack of interest in them,” he said.