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Democrats Shoot Down Larger GOP Relief Package

Posted on Oct. 22, 2020

Senate Democrats voted against proceeding with a $500 billion pandemic relief package that would reimburse parents for giving to scholarship funds, increase the deduction for charitable contributions, and continue the small business loan program.

The amendment to S. 178 was rejected October 21 along party lines, 44 to 51, leaving the measure short of the 60-vote mark it needed to pass.

There was little chance the measure was going to receive bipartisan approval after Democrats lamented the bill’s lack of funding for states and COVID-19 testing. Democrats have also called language providing liability protections for businesses a poison pill. 

The bill, pushed by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., was previously rejected in the Senate. Democrats also said a provision in the relief package that would give individuals two years of tax credits for contributions to scholarship-granting organizations is a ploy to gut public school funding in favor of private religious schools.

Republicans agreed to double the $300 above-the-line deduction for charitable contributions taxpayers can claim for 2020 that was enacted under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (P.L. 116-136).

The rejected bill included language to further extend the Paycheck Protection Program and allow businesses a second forgivable loan if they qualify. A business would have to see a 35 percent year-over-year drop in quarterly receipts and have fewer than 300 employees to apply. The forgiveness process would also be eased for current and future PPP borrowers receiving loans of $150,000 or less.

The loans can be forgiven on a tax-free basis if a specific portion of the proceeds is spent on payroll.

Democrats said they are still waiting for a larger relief package being negotiated between House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. The two sides said they are discussing major differences in the package, which is expected to cost about $1.8 trillion. Pelosi spokesperson Drew Hamill said the differences continue to be narrowed.

But there isn’t much confidence that a measure would receive support from Senate Republicans, who again told reporters there isn’t much appetite for a nearly $2 trillion bill.

White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, however, was more optimistic that Republicans might back an eventual deal. "If there's a bipartisan deal, I believe there would be enough votes there to make sure that we get that across the finish line and to the president’s desk,” he told reporters after meeting with Senate Republicans.

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