A6 WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11, 2020 WSCE LATIMES.COM
THE NATION
WASHINGTON — One
of President Trump’s key
proposals to confront the
economic fallout of the novel
coronavirus — a payroll tax
cut — got mixed reviews
from Senate Republicans on
Tuesday during a Capitol
Hill strategy-planning lunch
that ended without agree-
ment on the details of a pos-
sible stimulus plan.
But in the first sign of bi-
partisan cooperation to ad-
dress the growing health cri-
sis, Treasury Secretary
Steven T. Mnuchin was dis-
patched to begin negotiat-
ing an economic package
with House Speaker Nancy
Pelosi (D-San Francisco).
The pairing of Mnuchin
and Pelosi on a coronavirus
bill comes as Republicans
and Democrats are at log-
gerheads on an economic re-
sponse. In addition to the
payroll tax cut, the White
House supports tax relief for
the travel and tourism in-
dustries.
But Democrats balked at
tax cuts without financial
support for sick or quaran-
tined workers who may miss
paychecks or currently re-
ceive no sick pay.
Even some Republicans
are skeptical about whether
a payroll tax cut is the best
approach right now, accord-
ing to Sen. Lindsey Graham
(R-S.C.) and other senators.
The White House floated a
payroll tax “holiday” — de-
signed to boost the pay-
checks of workers —that
could be valued at more than
$300 billion, according to one
Republican senator in the
room.
“At this point I am not
ruling anything out. But ob-
viously whatever we do,
there has to be a really good
rationale for it,” said Sen.
John Thune of South Da-
kota, the Republican whip.
At the lunch, senators
noted that Trump — joined
by Mnuchin and economic
advisor Larry Kudlow —
said the meeting was more
about discussing options
than about laying out a spe-
cific stimulus plan.
“We talked in general
about the tools in our ar-
senal. If the administration
has decided on the specific
tools, they didn’t share that
with us. That is not a criti-
cism. This was to allow us to
have the input,” said Sen.
John Kennedy (R-La.).
Though Trump said
Monday he would unveil
“major” economic stimulus
proposals on Tuesday, no
specific plan was released.
Kudlow said only that the
president wanted a “tempo-
rary payroll tax cut holiday,
which I think he would pre-
fer to last until the end of the
year.” Kudlow gave no de-
tails about how large a cut it
would be or how much it
would cost.
The new bipartisan nego-
tiating team is a reunion or
sorts for Pelosi and
Mnuchin, who is one of the
only Trump administration
officials who has success-
fully negotiated with the
Democratic House.
Pelosi and Mnuchin
worked well together last
year to enact a budget deal.
During the process of craft-
ing that bill — which raised
caps on spending and lifted
the federal debt ceiling —
Pelosi and Mnuchin built a
mutual trust and respect.
Mnuchin is a relatively
apolitical member of
Trump’s Cabinet with a la-
ser-like focus on the econo-
my. Pelosi is a longtime leg-
islator well practiced in
crafting political deals.
The talks mark the start
of what is likely to be a mas-
sive piece of legislation to
approve billions of dollars tostimulate the economy and
help American workers af-
fected by self-quarantines
and school or work closures
in the coming months.
“Everybody ought to
understand this is going to
cost us billions and billions
of dollars,” Sen. Richard M.
Burr (R-N.C.) said.
Mnuchin has been given
“ball control” for the admin-
istration on the issue, Sen-
ate Majority Leader Mitch
McConnell (R-Ky.) told re-
porters on Tuesday, putting
Senate Republicans’ seal of
approval on the Mnuchin-
Pelosi negotiations as well.
“We are hoping he and
the speaker can pull this to-
gether so that we end up not
playing partisan games at a
time which seems to me to
cry out for bipartisan and bi-
cameral agreement,” Mc-
Connell said.
During last year’s Pelosi-
Mnuchin budget talks, Mc-
Connell similarly had the
Senate stay out of the proc-
ess, leaving the deal-making
up to the White House and
House Democrats and ulti-
mately supporting the final
product.A stimulus package is not
expected to move quickly.
House Democrats plan to
set up procedures to allow
legislation to be fast-tracked
ahead of a scheduled con-
gressional recess next week.
Pelosi has not committed to
a timeline, and passage by
the end of the week appears
unlikely. It’s possible the
House passes a bill of its own
economic relief measures
before the bipartisan nego-
tiations finish.
“I don’t know that we can
be ready this week, but we
can introduce this week. We
can introduce it and we may
be ready this week,” Pelosi
said, citing the need to get
the legislation written and
analyzed for cost.
Pelosi told reporters
Tuesday that her first meet-
ing with Mnuchin, lasting
about 30 minutes, focused
on “where our common
ground was as to how we go
forward.”
She acknowledged that
the bill would have to include
administration priorities,
but said it would also need to
address Democratic con-
cerns, such as paid sick leaveand access to clean water in
all parts of the country so
that people can wash their
hands.
One area where there al-
ready appears to be some
agreement between Repub-
licans and Democrats is of-
fering federal help to Ameri-
cans who don’t currently re-
ceive sick pay at their work-
place.
“We have our agenda first
and that’s what we want to
see,” Pelosi said when asked
about possible areas where
both sides agree. “If that is
something that’s agreeable
to them, then we’ll see what
else we can do.”
Though Democrats have
not ruled out supporting a
payroll tax cut, they remain
deeply skeptical and prefer
focusing on paid sick leave,
unemployment and other
social benefits, such as
boosting food security for
children who will miss
school lunches.
Jason Furman, who
chaired the Council of Econ-
omic Advisers under Presi-
dent Obama and helped ne-
gotiate a payroll tax cut in
2010, faulted a payroll taxbreak for not giving enough
money to low earners and
unemployed people, and
trickling money out too
slowly to jolt the economy.
“At this moment, we need
money now. We need money
as quickly as we possibly
can,” he said.
He said he would suggest
a plan that bolsters unem-
ployment insurance, in-
creases Medicaid reim-
bursements to states and
delivers lump-sum checks
directly to Americans —
similar to what President
George W. Bush did in 2008.
He pointed out that Pelosi
also negotiated that deal,
with then-Treasury Secre-
tary Henry Paulson.
Some Republicans
voiced openness to Demo-
crats’ calls to assist affected
workers.
Sen. David Perdue (R-
Ga.), a Trump ally, said he
was supportive of a payroll
tax deduction as well as ben-
efits for hourly workers or
others who would be missing
their paychecks if sidelined
by the coronavirus or a quar-
antine.
Trump and Vice Presi-
dent Mike Pence on Tuesday
also met with healthcare in-
surance executives, praising
companies that have an-
nounced that they would
end co-pays on all co-
ronavirus testing and treat-
ments.
Pence also said that
there would be no “surprise
billing” on coronavirus cases
— referring to the practice of
patients getting bills from
out-of-network healthcare
providers in hospitals that
are in a patient’s insurance
network. But he did not ex-
plain whether hospitals and
healthcare providers would
not send the bills or whether
insurance companies would
pick up those costs.Times staff writers Sarah
D. Wire, Noah Bierman, Eli
Stokols and Chris Megerian
contributed to this report.Trump’s stimulus plan gets mixed reviews
Payroll tax cut is
pitched to help offset
coronavirus fallout.
By Jennifer Haberkorn
EVEN SOMERepublican senators raised doubts about whether President
Trump’s payroll tax cut plan is the best approach to calm economic fears.Carolyn KasterAssociated Press#TOURFORLIFE
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