Tillis, Senate Republicans to propose alternative to Biden’s COVID relief plan
U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis is one of 10 Senate Republicans who signed a letter released Sunday calling for President Joe Biden to compromise with them on coronavirus relief funding.
Tillis and his colleagues plan to propose an alternative to Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief plan and requested a meeting with the president to discuss it. The senators plan to unveil their proposal Monday, according to a press release.
The letter does not say how much Senate Republicans’ plan would cost in total. The Associated Press reported Sunday that one of them, Sen. Bill Cassidy of Lousiana, said the senators’ package would cost about $600 billion, compared to Biden’s proposed $1.9 trillion.
The letter details some proposals that mirror Biden’s, including $4 billion for behavioral health and substance abuse services and $160 billion to support health care providers and fund testing, tracing, vaccine distribution and personal protective equipment deployment.
“I hope President Biden and Congressional Democrats will review this proposal and work with us instead of ramming through a partisan relief package without Republican support,” Tillis said in a release.
The following Republican senators also signed the letter and said they believe the proposal will receive bipartisan support: Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Mitt Romney of Utah, Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, Todd Young of Indiana, Jerry Moran of Kansas, Mike Rounds of South Dakota and Rob Portman of Ohio.
“In the spirit of bipartisanship and unity, we have developed a COVID-19 relief framework that builds on prior COVID assistance laws, all of which passed with bipartisan support,” the lawmakers wrote. “Our proposal reflects many of your stated priorities, and with your support, we believe that this plan could be approved quickly by Congress with bipartisan support.”
Moran tweeted: ”Last year, Congress spent $4 trillion on COVID-19 relief. While more can be done to accelerate vaccine distribution and protect small businesses, the Democrats’ $2 trillion plan filled with unrelated, partisan wish list items is not the right way forward.
“I am pleased to join my colleagues in support of a targeted framework built on bipartisan ideas to help those who are struggling most. @POTUS has pledged a spirit of unity. I hope that he accepts our offer to work together on COVID relief to meet the ongoing challenges of this crisis.”
Biden’s package proposes $1,400 direct payments to individuals, $400 billion for reopening schools and a national vaccination program and increasing the minimum wage to $15 an hour, the AP reported.
On Friday, Biden emphasized the growing cost of Congress’ failure to pass the package and indicated he was willing to move forward without the support of Republicans, according to the AP.
“I support passing COVID relief with support from Republicans if we can get it,” Biden said. “But the COVID relief has to pass. No ifs, ands or buts.”
This story was originally published January 31, 2021 at 1:53 PM.
