Republicans hear firm line from White House on aid

WASHINGTON－US President Joe Biden told Republican senators during a two-hour meeting he's unwilling to settle on an insufficient coronavirus aid package after they pitched their slimmed-down $618 billion proposal that is but a fraction of the $1.9 trillion he is seeking.

No compromise was reached in the lengthy session on Monday night, Biden's first with lawmakers at the White House.

Democrats in Congress pushed ahead with groundwork for approving his COVID relief plan with or without Republican votes. Despite the Republican group's appeal for bipartisanship as part of Biden's efforts to unify the country, the president made it clear he will not delay aid in hopes of winning GOP support.

The party breakdown in the Senate is 50-50 now, with Vice-President Kamala Harris having the power to cast the tie-breaking vote to give Democrats the majority.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said that while there were areas of agreement: "The president also reiterated his view that Congress must respond boldly and urgently, and noted many areas which the Republican senators' proposal does not address."

The two sides are far apart, with the Republican group of 10 senators focused primarily on the healthcare crisis and smaller $1,000 direct aid to the US public.

Leading Democrats favor a more sweeping rescue package to shore up households, local governments and a partly shuttered economy.

On a fast track, the goal is to have COVID relief approved by March, when extra unemployment assistance and other pandemic aid expires. This will test the ability of the new administration and Congress to deliver, with political risks for all sides from failure.

Republican Senator Susan Collins called the meeting a "frank and very useful" conversation, noting the president also filled in some details on his proposal.

"All of us are concerned about struggling families, teetering small businesses and an overwhelmed healthcare system," said Collins, flanked by other senators outside the White House.

Republicans are tapping into bipartisan urgency to improve the nation's vaccine distribution and vastly expand virus testing with $160 billion in aid. That is similar to what Biden has proposed.

Drastic divergence

But from there, the two plans drastically diverge.

The GOP's $1,000 direct payments would go to fewer households than the $1,400 Biden has proposed, and the Republican offer provides only a fraction of what he wants to reopen schools.

They also would give nothing to states, money that Democrats argue is just as important, with $350 billion in Biden's plan to keep police officers, firefighters and other workers on the job.

Gone also are Democratic priorities such as a gradual lifting of the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour.

Wary Democrats pushed ahead at the Capitol, unwilling to take too much time in courting GOP support that may not materialize or in delivering too meager a package that they believe does not address the scope of the nation's health crisis and economic problems.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer warned that history is filled with "the costs of small thinking".

House and Senate Democrats released a separate budget resolution Monday in a step toward approving Biden's package with a reconciliation process that would not depend on Republican support for passage.

"The cost of inaction is high and growing, and the time for decisive action is now," Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a statement.

Agencies - Xinhua