Pelosi downsizes relief-bill goal

New price tag $2.4 trillion, she says after intraparty pressure

“We are still striving for an agreement,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday of an aid package that is expected to include stimulus checks, aid for airlines, small businesses, cities and states, as well as rental assistance, unemployment assistance and funds for election security and the Postal Service.
(AP/Jose Luis Magana)
“We are still striving for an agreement,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday of an aid package that is expected to include stimulus checks, aid for airlines, small businesses, cities and states, as well as rental assistance, unemployment assistance and funds for election security and the Postal Service. (AP/Jose Luis Magana)

WASHINGTON -- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi shifted course Thursday and moved to assemble a new and smaller coronavirus relief bill to form the basis for renewed talks with the White House, amid mounting pressure from moderates in her caucus and increasingly alarming economic news.

The new legislation would be significantly narrower in scope than the $3.4 trillion Heroes Act the House passed in May. Pelosi, D-Calif., has more recently focused on an additional $2.2 trillion in aid -- a figure Republicans say is too high. But in a meeting with House Democratic leaders Thursday she said the new bill would be about $2.4 trillion, because of urgent needs arising from restaurants and airlines.

Details were provided by a person familiar with the meeting who spoke on the condition of anonymity because it was private.

Pelosi asked key committee chairs to get together on the bill.

The package is expected to include stimulus checks, aid for airlines, small businesses, cities and states, as well as rental assistance, unemployment assistance and funds for election security and the Postal Service.

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"We are still striving for an agreement," Pelosi said in the leadership meeting. She suggested that the legislation could come to a vote on the House floor even if no bipartisan deal is reached.

"I think we're headed towards a resurgence of the virus in the fall, and until we defeat the virus, you're not going to have a full economic recovery," said House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal, D-Mass.

Pelosi had resisted demands from moderates in her caucus to narrow her ambitions or put a new bill on the floor, insisting that Republicans should be the ones to offer new concessions. Her stance has become increasingly problematic as endangered House Democrats have demanded action, with some threatening to sign on to a Republican-led procedural move to force a vote on a small-business-relief bill.

Rep. Cindy Axne, D-Iowa, a freshman lawmaker who flipped a Republican-held seat in 2018, was gathering signatures from other lawmakers Thursday on a letter to Pelosi that said in part: "We write to you now to implore you to bring a revised and streamlined covid-19 relief package to the floor next week. Americans are counting on us; they cannot wait any longer."

There are mounting signs that the economy could stall again after a brief rebound in the summer. Airlines are threatening to lay off thousands of workers next week, when payroll protections included in the Cares Act expire Thursday.

Negotiations involving Pelosi, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin collapsed in August and never really resumed. Congress is scheduled to adjourn at the end of next week through the election, though lawmakers could be called back to vote on a deal.

President Donald Trump last week pushed Republicans to pursue a large government spending bill to help the economy, though he has suggested recently that the economy is rebounding strongly on its own.

Mnuchin reiterated in an appearance before the Senate Banking Committee on Thursday that he saw the need for more stimulus and was prepared to resume talks. He mentioned that aid should focus on assistance for small businesses. He also has said the White House would support another round of stimulus checks for Americans, something Democrats have also said they want to authorize.

"I do think we need comprehensive relief," Mnuchin said. "I'm available any time."

Appearing at the same hearing, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell agreed that more assistance is needed. Without it, Powell said, people may start pulling back on spending or lose their homes as the money they got from stimulus checks or federal unemployment aid runs out. The unprecedented $3 trillion in stimulus Congress approved in the spring has been dwindling rapidly, and some programs have expired.

"We'll see sooner or later, probably sooner, that the economy has a harder time sustaining the growth that we've seen," Powell said. "That's the risk."

Powell said small businesses and the unemployed were in need of immediate help.

Republicans dismissed Pelosi's move as insincere, noting that she was increasing her asking price from $2.2 trillion to $2.4 trillion before talks had even begun.

"It shows again she's not serious about getting a covid relief bill, that she's just playing politics," said House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. "And what's really sad about this is it's really hurting the American public."

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