The White House and Senate Republican leaders reached an agreement in principle Thursday for a fifth round of coronavirus relief, totaling about $1 trillion, including more direct payments to Americans and an extra $16 billion for testing.
Senate Republicans are expected to release various parts of the legislation on Monday, facing an end-of-the-month deadline for the expiration of $600 weekly unemployment benefits that many in the GOP call overly generous.
“The administration has requested additional time to review the fine details, but we will be laying down the proposal next week,” Sen. Mitch McConnell said.
President Trump expressed disappointment Thursday that the proposal won’t include his call for a payroll tax cut through the end of the year.
“I think it’s great for the workers, [but] the Democrats would never have gone for it,” Mr. Trump said. “They’re not big into the workers, I guess. We need their votes. You still need Democrat votes.”
The president hailed a provision to spend $105 billion on schools to help them reopen safely during the pandemic, including mitigation such as smaller class sizes, masks and more teachers’ aides.
And Mr. Trump said the proposal will include a provision saying that if schools don’t reopen, funding should go to parents to allow them to send their children to the school of their choice, including private or religious schools.
“If the school is closed, the money should follow the student, so that parents and families are in control of their own decisions,” Mr. Trump said. “Reopening our schools is also critical to ensuring that parents can go to work and provide for their families.”
Mr. McConnell said the decision on unemployment benefit would not repeat the “obvious craziness” from the prior relief bill, which provided $600 per week. Many Republicans have said the relatively high amount discourages some workers from returning to work, as some employees earn less than that from their employers.
That benefit runs out on July 31.
The bill was expected to be released Thursday, but there was still disagreement within the GOP on issues such as where to set the new, lower level for extended unemployment benefits.
The agreement with the White House emerged as the government reported Thursday that unemployment claims rose slightly last week to 1.4 million, with more than 17 million still out of work. It was the first increase in claims since the coronavirus pandemic forced economic shutdowns in March.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer said they would not accept any partial extensions of benefits, or attempts to break the coronavirus relief into smaller packages. The House has approved a package totaling more than $3 trillion.
“We cannot piecemeal this. It has an integrity. It has a oneness about meeting the needs of the American people, defeating the virus,” said Mrs. Pelosi, California Democrat.
Congress and the president already have approved roughly $3 trillion in coronavirus relief since March, piling up historic budget deficits to rescue the economy and beef up testing and health-care services.
The Democratic leaders also slammed Republicans’ handling of negotiations, arguing the GOP is in disarray.
“Now that Senate Republicans have finally woken up to the calamity in our country, they have been so divided, so disorganized, so unprepared that they have struggled to even draft a partisan proposal within their own conference,” Mr. Schumer, New York Democrat, said. “They can’t come together. Even after all this time, it appears the Republican legislative response to COVID is un-unified, un-serious, un-satisfactory.”
“They’re so divided and there’s no leadership from the president,” Mr. Schumer added
Instead of a payroll tax cut, Mr. McConnell said the proposal contains another round of checks sent to American households, similar to the CARES Act passed in March, in which many adults received up to $1,200.
He said there will also be more money for the Paycheck Protection Program to help the hardest-hit small businesses. Companies will be able to apply for a second loan, provided they continue to pay their workers.
Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin said the additional PPP aid will be available for businesses with 300 or fewer employees and revenues that are down 50% or more.
The GOP still needs to negotiate with Democrats after the White House and Senate Republicans agree on their proposal. Democrats are calling for hundreds of billions in aid to states and cities, and are insisting on keeping the $600-per-week unemployment benefit.
Sen. Ron Wyden, Oregon Democrat, blasted Republicans for suggesting that workers are unwilling to go back to their jobs due to the current unemployment benefit.
“That argument does not pass the smell test,” Mr. Wyden said. “It’s an insult to American workers to say they would rather sit at home than to earn their pay at work.”
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, California Democrat, called on GOP leadership to extend the $600 payments, saying if those expire at the end of the week, roughly $19 billion a week would be removed from the economy when recovery is already slow.
“I share your goal in doing everything possible to ensure that the economic recovery is as rapid as possible both to help the tens of millions of Americans affected by the current crisis and to minimize the long-term consequences of the crisis,” she said. “Extending the CARES Act’s expanded unemployment benefits is essential to achieving those goals.”
Several Republicans have broken ranks over concerns about the high cost of the package, how the party is addressing unemployment benefits, and funds to hard-hit state and local governments.
There were reports Wednesday that the GOP was debating a short-term extension on the $600 a week since many could agree on an exact number.
“I’d prefer we would find a solution for it,” Sen. Marco Rubio, Florida Republican, told reporters. “It would depend on how long that extension is for, if it is for two more weeks…that might be something I consider, but if it’s something longer than that I think we really need to focus on the solution — on the sort of fix that takes into account potential disadvantage to return to work and the fact that some have no work to return to.”
Mr. Mnuchin said the White House is looking at approximately 70% wage replacement.
Democrats are committed to extending the full $600 a week payments, but Mrs. Pelosi also wants to see what Republicans have to offer on direct payments to the public.
“I’m all for the $600 because people really need it,” she said. “But again, as I said, we have issues that relate to direct payments for people and the size of what that is and the rest. But I go to the table with the commitment to the $600.”
• Dave Boyer and David Sherfinski contributed to this report.
