WASHINGTON -- Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., outlined new details Monday of what he wants to see in the next and potentially final coronavirus relief package, including a five-year liability shield for businesses and a possible new round of stimulus checks aimed at workers making $40,000 a year or less.
The comments from McConnell came in a series of events in Louisville, Ky., at the start of a two-week congressional recess. They laid down markers for Democrats ahead of what promise to be contentious negotiations when Congress reconvenes July 20. McConnell said he intends to release a new bill as the starting point for talks that will take place with coronavirus cases surging anew and economic pain still wracking the nation.
"I can't comfortably predict we're going to come together and pass it unanimously like we did a few months ago -- the atmosphere is becoming a bit more political than it was in March," McConnell said. "But I think we will do something again. I think the country needs one last boost."
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"This is not over. We had hoped we would be on the way to saying goodbye to this health care pandemic. Clearly, it is not over," McConnell said.
McConnell has consistently said the next bill will include liability protections for businesses, health care providers, universities and schools. He offered a time frame for these protections Monday, saying he envisioned a "narrowly crafted liability protection" for activities related to the coronavirus that would kick in December 2019 and last through 2024.
"Unless you're grossly negligent or intentionally engaged in harmful behavior, you shouldn't have to be penalized by getting sued on top of everything else, so that'll be in there, I guarantee it," McConnell said.
Democrats have strongly opposed such liability protection, and it's not clear where a compromise on the issue might lie.
McConnell also said the next rescue package "could well" contain another round of stimulus checks, an issue that's remained unsettled, with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin pushing for more such relief but some Republican senators and Trump administration officials resisting.
"I think the people who've been hit the hardest are people who make about $40,000 a year or less," many working in the hospitality industry, McConnell said.
The Cares Act in March sent out $1,200 checks to individuals making $75,000 a year or less, with smaller amounts going to people making up to $99,000 a year. Democrats support much more generous new checks, and have criticized McConnell for inaction in recent weeks as cases spiked and weekly unemployment claims piled up.
Congress passed four bipartisan bills in March and April pumping some $3 trillion into the economy, but in recent weeks the Senate focused on issues such as an annual defense policy bill and confirming President Donald Trump's nominees. When lawmakers return to Washington, they will have three weeks to negotiate the next major relief bill before recessing again until Labor Day.
"The Republican majority has been out to lunch since we passed the Cares Act way back in March," Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said on the Senate floor last week. "It's been over three months since the Republican Senate has considered major covid-relief legislation.
"Weekly unemployment claims are measured in the millions. States are shedding public service jobs in the tens of thousands. The number of new cases is accelerating in nearly half of our states ... . Just how much more assessment do we need?"
With some Republican senators resistant to spending any more money at all, McConnell will face a challenge finding consensus among Senate Republicans and with a Trump administration that is itself divided, even before starting negotiations with Democrats, who are pushing for much more new spending than Republicans support.
McConnell said that, in addition to liability protections, the new bill will focus on getting children back to school, restoring jobs and boosting the health care system, but did not offer details on those issues.
"I think the key right now is to try and get sort of the White House and Republicans on the Hill in the same place," said Sen. John Thune, R-S.D. "Senate Republicans are doing this assessment, determining where we think the greatest needs are going to be, watching what's happening in the economy as it opens up. But definitely going to be heavily focused on the health-care crisis and making sure that we can get the schools open in the fall."
Already, thorny disputes are shaping up over what to do about enhanced unemployment benefits that expire July 31, additional aid that Democrats are demanding for state and local governments, and the possible new round of stimulus checks.