PLAYBOOK PM is out — sorry for the delay
MITCH MCCONNELL has firmly planted his right foot on the accelerator pedal this AM, attempting to move at mach speed to negotiate and pass a massive stimulus bill by Mon -- which, if accomplished, would be a herculean legislative feat.
MITCH MCCONNELL has firmly planted his right foot on the accelerator pedal this AM, attempting to move at mach speed to negotiate and pass a massive stimulus bill by Mon -- which, if accomplished, would be a herculean legislative feat.
BTW: THIS PACKAGE IS LIKELY TO BE significantly bigger than $1 trillion, as Congress swims against the tide of ballooning unemployment numbers and an economy that's all but shut down.
— MM: "I TASKED THESE BIPARTISAN TEAMS to reach agreement by the end of the day today, tonight. We’ll need Sat. to be drafting what we've agreed to.”
Aiming for MONDAY passage
Aiming for MONDAY passage
— SCHUMER’S RED LINES: “Marshall Plan” for hospitals, “full unemployment insurance” so laid off workers can get “full salary” and ban on buy backs for companies that take taxpayer $$
-- LAWMAKERS AND AIDES broke into 4 groups to negotiate the bill. AROUND 12:30 P.M., the group broke up to draft some language. THE FULL SLATE OF NEGOTIATORS will meet sometime in the middle of the afternoon. (h/t Bresnahan)
DEMOCRATS, at the moment, are NOT pouring cold water on MCCONNELL'S timeline of Senate passage by Monday.
WHAT WILL HAPPEN: To speed the process, MCCONNELL will file cloture on the motion to proceed to this bill tomorrow -- so he can move with speed and dexterity on the floor.
bunch of Qs need to be answered: CAN MCCONNELL hold his Rs together? … MCCONNELL will need 60 votes at some point for this, and there are 53 Republicans and 47 Democrats -- so you can do the math on how narrow a line they're walking.
For Ex: SOME RS think direct payments go to far, others think it doesnt go far enough.
-- HOUSE LEADERSHIP is skeptical that this bill will be done by Mon, but nonetheless, they stand ready to come back to vote as soon as it clears the Senate. NO DECISIONS have been made on how they will vote, but there is recognition that they need to come to a decision soon
WARNING SIGN FOR MCCONNELL: Schumer is now talking to Trump — he did twice this morning. The direct Schumer-Trump line of communication could be dangerous.
