Some Democrats are ready to give up on demands for state and local aid to get a COVID-19 stimulus bill passed
- Several Democrats have signaled they might drop demands for aid for state and local governments in a COVID-19 stimulus bill, The Associated Press reported.
- Sens. Dick Durbin and Chris Coons said they would back a slimmed-down $748 billion compromise deal that omits the support.
- A bipartisan group trimmed off the parts of a relief bill that Republicans and Democrats had been finding hardest to agree on: aid for state and local governments, and legal protections for businesses. These are now part of a separate $160 billion proposal that's less likely to pass.
- "I'm not giving up on funding for states and localities," Durbin said. But he added that he backed the $748 billion proposal without them for now.
Some senior Democrats are preparing to drop their insistence on immediate support to state and local governments in order to move a COVID-19 stimulus deal along, The Associated Press reported on Tuesday.
Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin and Sen. Chris Coons, a confidant of President-elect Joe Biden, signaled on Monday that they would support a scaled-back $748 billion deal, the AP said.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has continued to press for its inclusion.
The AP also noted that several Democratic figures attended a press conference announcing the smaller package, suggesting growing support.
A bipartisan group of lawmakers who have spent the past few weeks crafting a $908 billion relief proposal divided it into two sections on Monday to give some parts a better chance to pass both the House and the Senate.
The $748 billion section has measures that are largely agreed on, including support for education, funding for vaccine distribution, and unemployment insurance.
The $160 billion section includes the two most contentious aspects: pandemic-related liability protections for businesses (demanded by the GOP) and support for state and local governments (demanded by Democrats).
The group - which includes Republican Sens. Mitt Romney and Susan Collins and Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin - dubbed its proposal a "Christmas miracle."
The proposal is being presented as a stopgap measure to provide some support over Christmas, with further negotiations expected when Biden takes office.
Pelosi, who backed the original bipartisan plan with the provision for state and local aid, spoke to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Monday evening about it, according to the AP.
She had earlier suggested she would be willing to compromise on liability protections for businesses as long as they would not harm workers' rights.
But that stance may be fading across the party.
In a statement emailed to media outlets, Durbin backed the $748 billion deal and said he was "disappointed" that funding for state and local governments couldn't be agreed on as part of it. He insisted he was not dropping the issue for good.
"This package does not include everything I think we need," he wrote, adding, "I want to be clear: I'm not giving up on funding for states and localities."
He went on: "While the fight continues over these issues, we must provide some emergency relief for the American people before we go home for the holidays."