Democratic Caucus chair predicts ‘strong support’ for COVID-19 relief package

The head of the House Democratic Caucus predicted Wednesday that the party will rally behind an emerging coronavirus relief package, forecasting “strong support” from Democrats despite some liberal grumbling that the aid being discussed is insufficient.  

“It’s my expectation that any ultimate agreement will have strong support within the House Democratic Caucus,” Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) told reporters in the Capitol. “But of course each individual member has to make a determination based on what they view as best for their district.” 

Leaders in both parties are scrambling this week to finalize an agreement on another round of emergency COVID-19 aid, with the principal negotiators — Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin — nearing a deal on Wednesday, according to sources familiar with the ongoing talks. 

Yet the package may be a bitter pill to swallow for liberal Democrats, who had demanded hundreds of billions of dollars to help state and local governments pay their front-line workers — the “heroes” in the Democrats’ Heroes Act, which passed the House in May — only to see that funding stripped from the package altogether. 

Liberals, including Reps. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), who heads the Congressional Progressive Caucus, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), have also insisted that the legislation include direct payments to working-class individuals and families.   

The CARES Act, enacted in March, featured payments up to $1,200 for individuals. Sen. John Thune (S.D.), the Republican whip, said Wednesday that the payments in the latest package would be far less, somewhere in the $600 to $700 range. 

Jeffries, echoing recent statements from Pelosi, is framing the lame-duck relief bill as just a down payment on the emergency coronavirus aid that Democrats are promising when President-elect Joe Biden reaches the White House early next year. Jeffries ticked off a host of Democratic priorities in the current package to argue that Democrats achieved most of what they were after, including new funding for unemployment benefits, hunger relief, housing assistance, child care subsidies and the direct checks.

The timing of the votes on the legislation remain unclear. 

The COVID-19 aid is being coupled with an omnibus spending bill to fund the government through the remainder of the fiscal year, and negotiators are racing to move the package through both chambers before Saturday, when current government funding expires. A failure to do so would force Congress to pass a second temporary spending bill, known as a continuing resolution, or CR, to buy lawmakers more time to approve the larger proposal and send it to President Trump’s desk.

Jeffries on Wednesday said there’s been no talk yet in the House Democratic Caucus about the need for another CR. On a call with the caucus that morning, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), who controls the House schedule, told lawmakers to expect to remain in Washington until the legislation is passed, according to Jeffries.

“It’s my expectation that if the progress that has currently been made continues to move in the right direction with respect to those areas, the American people can feel confident that meaningful help is on the way,” Jeffries said.