A20 EZ M2 THE WASHINGTON POST.FRIDAY, DECEMBER 11 , 2020
BY MIKE DEBONIS
AND JEFF STEIN
Congressional bickering over a
new economic relief package es-
calated Thursday as lawmakers
traded blame and put negotia-
tions over critical legislation on
the brink of collapse.
And the finger-pointing even
threatened to imperil a must-pass
spending bill in the Senate, as
lawmakers were still unsure
whether they would be able to
pass a measure by a deadline
Friday night to avert a govern-
ment shutdown.
The worsening situation came
as multiple lawmakers appeared
to be pursuing conflicting goals,
with little time to sort out dis-
agreements. The House passed a
spending bill Wednesday to fund
the government for one week and
avoid a shutdown deadline Friday
night. The Senate must pass an
identical bill — and have Presi-
dent Trump sign it — to avoid a
shutdown, but as of Thursday
afternoon, lawmakers still
weren’t sure how to do that with
unanimous consent.
Meanwhile, House Speaker
Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) suggested
Thursday that discussions over
emergency legislation could
stretch beyond Christmas, even
though multiple critical pro-
grams expire at the end of this
month and there are fresh signs
the economy is weakening. The
Labor Department on Thursday
announced that 853,000 Ameri-
cans filed jobless claims last
week, a big increase from the
week before and a sign that the
economy could be sliding back-
ward as coronavirus cases pile up.
Staffers for Senate Majority
Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.)
also told leadership offices in
both parties Wednesday night
that McConnell sees no possible
path for a bipartisan group of
lawmakers to reach an agreement
on two contentious provisions
that would be broadly acceptable
to Senate Republicans, according
to a senior Democrat familiar
with the negotiations.
McConnell has repeatedly em-
phasized that he thinks more as-
sistance is needed to help the
economy, but he has framed the
emerging bipartisan package as
unworkable.
His staffers warned that Senate
Republicans would reject the
group’s potential agreements on a
temporary liability shield for
businesses, as well as on aid to
state and local governments —
provisions that have complicated
talks for months. The senior Dem-
ocrat spoke on the condition of
anonymity to discuss private de-
liberations.
In remarks on the Senate floor
Thursday, McConnell repeated
his demand for a broad liability
shield for businesses and institu-
tions vulnerable to coronavirus-
related lawsuits and accused
Democrats of “bullying small-
business owners and college pres-
idents who’ve been pleading for
these protections for months.”
“I hope our colleagues let Con-
gress deliver more help soon,” he
said. “A lot of Americans simply
cannot afford to wait.”
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on
Thursday was expected to object
to the must-pass government
spending bill in an attempt to
force congressional leadership to
allow a vote on another round of
$1,200 stimulus checks next
week. It was unclear how serious
Sanders was in his effort to threat-
en funding for the government
spending bill over the checks.
Several other signals suggested
progress on providing emergency
relief had petered out. Senate Mi-
nority Leader Charles E. Schumer(D-N .Y.) fiercely denounced Mc-
Connell’s proposed compromise
measure to remove both state and
local aid and the liability shield
from the deal.
House Minority Whip Steny H.
Hoyer (D-Md.) said House law-
makers would be sent home to
their districts until a compromise
measure was reached. It was un-
clear whether Senate Republi-
cans would be able on Thursday
to approve legislation to keep the
federal government funded for an
additional week before it shuts
down on Saturday.
The sudden disarray came just
days after a bipartisan group of
Sena te lawmakers had hinted
they were making major progress
in brokering a targeted $908 bil-lion stimulus plan, which would
include some liability protections
for businesses, new unemploy-
ment aid, and assistance for
states and cities. Pelosi and Schu-
mer had called the proposal en-
couraging and wanted to use it as
the starting point for talks.
The bipartisan group of con-
gressional lawmakers trying to
break the logjam on stimulus has
yet to announce a compromise on
either the liability shield or the
state and local aid funding. It has
only issued the framework of an
agreement, leaving many of the
thorniest details unresolved.
But McConnell’s message to his
counterparts Wednesday, as well
as a Schumer speech Thursday
casting doubt on whether com-
bining state and local aid with
liability shields is a fair trade-off,
appeared to reduce the chances
that the bipartisan group’s efforts
could be the basis for a final deal.
“From everything I can pick up
on, things are in a stalemate to-
day,” said Bill Hoagland, a senior
vice president at the Bipartisan
Policy Center and former Repub-
lican staff director for the Senate
Budget Committee. “But the de-
sire is still there to get something
put together on both sides. It’s
always darkest before the sun ris-
es.”
The pandemic is dealing severe
blows to sectors of the American
economy, and widespread distri-
bution of a coronavirus vaccine
remains months away.
At her news conference, Pelosi
emphasized that President-elect
Joe Biden would soon be sworn in
and vowed that lawmakers could
not go home until a deal had been
reached. “If we need more time,
then we take more time. But we
have to have a bill, and we cannot
go home without it,” Pelosi said.
[email protected]
[email protected]Economic relief talks in disarray as bickering on Capitol Hill intensifies
PHOTOS BY AL DRAGO/BLOOMBERG NEWS
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is said to s ee no p ath for a bipartisan group of
lawmakers to achieve a d eal on two contentious provisions that would satisfy Senate Republicans.House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) su ggested Thursday that
talks over emergency legislation could stretch beyond Christmas.BY ELI ROSENBERG
The number of new unemploy-
ment claims rose sharply to
853,000 last week, an increase of
137,000 from the week before, an-
other sign of the toll the pandemic
is taking on the labor market.
The number of claims leaped
over 800,000 for the first time
since the week that ended Oct. 10,
when they came in at 842,000. It
was the largest number since mid-
September.
A spike in coronavirus cases in
the United States has rattled large
parts of the economy in recent
weeks.
There are now more than 1 mil-
lion new cases of coronavirus
each week in the United States,
and the country shattered a rec-
ord Wednesday with more than
3,000 deaths from the pandemic.
Hospitals in many parts of the
country are overwhelmed, and
many state and local jurisdictions
have imposed fresh restrictions to
try to curb the increase.
Meanwhile, lawmakers have
spent months in unsuccessful ne-
gotiations over another economic
relief package, leaving the econo-
my without the kind of support
that economists say was so impor-
tant to cushioning the pandemic’s
blow early in the crisis. A new
round of talks recently startedand has shown some progress, but
a deal has remained elusive.
President Trump has pushed
for a new round of $600 stimulus
checks, but he has sought to ex-
tend only limited aid for unem-
ployed Americans, while Demo-
crats and some Republicans have
sought more-robust benefits in
anticipation of a crush of new
filings. More than 10 million
Americans remain unemployed,
following the big spike in layoffs
in March and April.
The new burst of jobless claims
from last week was slightly larger
than the last two big jumps, for
that October week, when they
rose about 75,000, and in early
August, when claims rose
133,000. That made it the largest
increase in claims since millions
began flooding the system at the
pandemic’s outset in March.
“Given COVID-19 cases and
deaths are now regularly setting
new highs, these reports put into
question job growth in December,
especially given the rapid slow-
down in growth in November,”Robert Frick, corporate econo-
mist at Navy Federal Credit
Union, said in a statement.
An additional 427,600 claims
were filed for Pandemic Unem-
ployment Assistance, the pro-
gram for gig and self-employed
workers, according to data re-
leased Thursday by the Labor De-
partment.
Economists have been warning
for months about coming damage
to the economy if Congress failed
to authorize another stimulus
package to help prop up strug-
gling businesses and households.
The labor market in general has
fared better than the most dire
projections made during the pan-
demic’s early months but has been
flashing warning signs for weeks.
Most residents of California are
under stay-at-home orders, with
nonessential travel and hotel
stays restricted, and closures af-
fecting indoor dining, bars, nail
salons, zoos and wineries. Offi-
cials in some parts of Maryland
are prohibiting both indoor and
outdoor dining. More measures in
jurisdictions such as Virginia and
New York are expected soon.
Claims in California increased
week over week by 47,000 from
the prior week, followed by in-
creases of 31,400 in Illinois and
19,800 in Texas.
[email protected]Jobless claims are highest in months
853,000 file applications
as virus numbers climb,
relief bill remains elusiveBY STEVEN ZEITCHIK
With the entertainment indus-
try beset by challenges, Disney
executives offered a striking
statement of its own health on
Thursday, spotlighting a h ead-
spinning set of new content for
Disney Plus and theaters that it
beli eves will keep consumers
pouring in revenue for a long
time.
An “investor day” ostensibly to
explain its new digital-distribu-
tion emphasis, the presentation
mainly served to showcase the
wide range of material being
produced across its many pro-
duction units — live-action and
animation, kids and adults, su-
perhero and Star Wars — and
particularly funneled to Disney
Plus, the monthly service it be-
lieves is the company’s main
consumer platform.
“We launched the service last
year with great ambition and
high expectations,” Disney execu-
tive chairman Bob Iger told in-
vestors. “And we’ve exceeded
them by every measure.”
The company is so confident
about the service’s prospects, it
announced it will raise its price
to $7 .99 per month beginning in
March.
The presentation was a kind of
rebuff to those who think Disney
has been one-upped in the digital
world by Netflix. That company
has sought to position itself as a
go-to for digital content but does
not, Disney argued Thursday,
have the brand reservoir or con-
sistent glossy production that it
does.
From a subscriber standpoint,
Netflix is still winning the
streaming wars, with nearly
200 million global subscribers.
But Disney chief executive Bob
Chapek said Thursday that Dis-
ney Plus, launched 13 months
ago, has 86.8 million subscribers,
demonstrating a company that is
closing the gap and pulling away
from the pack. No other service
comes close; HBO Max, Warner
Media’s service, has about 8 mil-
lion unique subscribers.The 86.8 million marked a
13 million subscriber increase
over the past month, fueled by a
launch this quarter in Latin
America.
Also in the Star Wars — and
retort — department: The com-
pany announced it has hired
Patty Jenkins to direct “Rogue
Squadron,” a new theatrical mov-
ie for 2023 from its Star Wars-
centric Lucasfilm division. Jen-
kins’s “Wonder Woman 1984”
was recently moved by Warner
Bros. to HBO Max, one of 18 films
over the next year that the com-
pany says it will debut on the
service in a move that was widely
interpreted as forsaking theatri-
cal performance.
Disney’s move seemed de-
signed to tell the AT&T-owned
WB that it still believes theatrical
showings will be around in three
years, and that Jenkins would
rather work for them to serve the
idea.
Kathleen Kennedy, who runs
Lucasfilm, told investors the
movie will focus on a “new gener-
ation of starfighter pilots as they
earn their wings and risk their
lives in a high-speed thrill ride.”
She suggested it was theatersthat would be the best place to
experience it.
At a time when theaters are in
question, Disney noted an array
of movies that it plans still to
release in them — Marvel chief
Kevin Feige, for instance, said
that a “Black Panther” sequel that
will pay tribute to the late Chad-
wick Boseman will arrive in thea-
ters in July 2022. It moved only
one of its 2021 films, a lower-pro-
file animated one titled “Raya
and the Last Drago n,” scheduled
for March, to Disney Plus.
But the company did suggest
some of its movie divisions will
be adding streaming to their
portfolio. Hulu, executives said,
will start serving up original
films produced by its 20th Cen-
tury Studios and Searchlight di-
visions. Previously both divisions
had been focused primarily on
theatrical releases.
Chapek acknowledged that
coronavirus challenges and
“changing consumer behavior”
could affect theatrical business
and noted that “of the 100 new
titles announced today, 80 per-
cent” of them would go digital
first.
“But we had $13 billion of box
office last year, and that’s obvi-
ously not something to sneeze
at,” he said. “For us, it’s about
balance.”
Disney made headlines at the
start of the presentation by not-ing 10 new series each for its
Marvel and Star Wars franchises
and a combination of 30 movies
and series from its Disney studio
and animation operations, all
aimed at Disney Plus.
But once its 20th Television
Studio, FX, Searchlight, National
Geographic and ESPN services
are factored in, appearing on
Hulu and ESPN Plus, the real
number is much greater. There
are hundreds of new shows and
movies that seek to ensure Dis-
ney Plus (and theaters, when they
return) is not just a place for
endless re-watches of “Frozen”
and its library, but a venue to get
reams of new content, even if
much of it is a spinoff of old
content.
A sequel of the “Sister Act”
movie franchise will sit alongside
a series based on the “Moana”
movie, which will be complemen-
tary to an Obi-Wan Kenobi spin-
off.
Disney also said it had an-
nounced a deal with Comcast,
which owns Disney competitor
NBC Universal, to make Disney
Plus available on Xfinity, high-
lighting how important even ri-
vals believe Disney content to be.
“You can surely understand
why we’re so excited and so
optimistic about the future of the
Walt Disney Company,” Chapek
said.
Investors were feeling equallyheartened, sending the stock
price up 4 percent over the
course of the presentation.
But questions still hover over
the company.
Executives nodded occasional-
ly to the coronavirus — Walt
Disney Television entertainment
chairman Dana Walden noted
some production delays on a few
of its shows due to the virus — b ut
mostly avoided discussing the
pandemic, which has ravaged its
theme-park and theatrical busi-
ness and sent revenue plummet-
ing.
The company lost more than
$1 billion at its parks and is
poised to take in a tiny fraction of
its 2019 box office this year.
And Disney Plus still won’t
achieve profitability for three
more years, raising questions
about when the investment will
pay off the massive amount of
spending on it.
As he has from the beginning,
Iger emphasized “qualit y, not vol-
ume” in its digital approach,
differentiating it from Netflix.
But as the evening wore on it
became clear that the volume
was still great, a fact Iger seemed
to realize as well.
“The pipeline of original con-
tent we’re making is much more
robust than originally anticipat-
ed,” he said at the end of the
presentation.
[email protected]Disney unveils new content, signaling aim to dominate t heaters and digital
Showcases wide range
o f material funneled
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