White House, GOP at odds over jobless aid in virus bill
WASHINGTON (AP) — Negotiations over the next COVID-19 rescue bill were in flux Friday after the White House floated cutting an unemployment benefits boost to as little as $100 and President Donald Trump turned to a new priority, adding money to build a new FBI headquarters.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell sent senators home, promising a Republican proposal would be ready on Monday. Outraged Democrats warned that time is wasting on GOP infighting as the virus worsens, jobless aid expires and the death toll rises.
“We call upon Leader McConnell to get serious,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer in a statement.
During a head-spinning week of start-and-stop progress, McConnell abruptly halted the rollout of Republicans' $1 trillion plan, which was supposed to provide a counter-offer to Democrats' $3 trillion bill in an opening bid for negotiations. Plans shifted after Trump was forced to abandon his push for a payroll tax break, which his party opposed, and the White House turned to the new priorities.
As Republicans struggled, the nation’s infections topped 4 million, the number of deaths rose this week by several thousands, to nearly 145,000, and the $600 unemployment benefit boost for millions of out-of-work Americans was put on track to expire.
As McConnell shuttered the Senate, he promised to return with “a strong, targeted piece of legislation aimed directly at the challenges we face right now.”
The GOP leader, who is up for reelection in November alongside Trump, dashed home to Kentucky for an event with the nation’s drug czar, Jim Carroll, in part of Appalachia confronting opioid addiction. Kentucky has faced skyrocketing overdose deaths.
One sticking point for Republicans trying to resolve their...
