POLITICO Playbook: Coronavirus bill passes first hurdle. What’s next?
Quotes from article:
STEP ONE ACCOMPLISHED: THE HOUSE passed a heavily negotiated, narrowly tailored coronavirus response bill early this morning with 363 voting yes, 40 voting no, one present and 26 not voting.
TWENTY PERCENT of House Republicans voted no on this bill, which is instructive in thinking about the governing coalition as Congress expects to dive further into propping up sectors of the economy suffering from effects of the deadly coronavirus. No votes included Republican Reps.
ANDY BIGGS of Arizona and
JIM JORDAN of Ohio, close allies of President
DONALD TRUMP.
BUT IT’S ALSO INSTRUCTIVE to consider how this deal came together.
CNN’S MANU RAJU -- a friend of Playbook -- asked Speaker
NANCY PELOSIlast night if she had spoken to
TRUMP throughout this process. Her answer? “No. … There was no need for that."
AND, INDEED, there wasn’t, because
TRUMPwas, at best, a bystander during this process.
PELOSI and Treasury Secretary
STEVEN MNUCHIN have now cut their third major bipartisan deal -- setting the duo up as the center of action for legislating in this governing configuration. It’s a most unlikely role for
MNUCHIN, whose presence was not appreciated -- being nice here! -- during tax reform.
BUT MNUCHIN has found a groove with
PELOSI, and last night, they were able to work out a massively difficult technical issue with paid leave under extreme pressure.
PELOSI also secured a commitment from
MNUCHIN that
TRUMPwould tweet in favor of the bill -- that happened before noon Friday -- but that commitment was contingent on solving problems on language that House Republicans had raised. Dems were skeptical of the issues Republicans raised, and saw it as foot dragging.
PELOSI and
MNUCHIN spoke 20 times Friday by phone, the speaker’s office told us.
All the details from Sarah Ferris, John Bresnahan, Melanie Zanona, and Kyle Cheney
NEXT UP is the Senate.
MITCH MCCONNELL released a statement this morning, saying senators will need to look this bill over, but “I believe the vast majority of Senators in both parties will agree we should act swiftly to secure relief for American workers, families, and small businesses.”
THE SENATE will be in town next week to deal with this bill. The Senate is poised to have a cloture vote on the FISA bill at 5:30 p.m. on Monday. Until that is passed, any action on the coronavirus response bill would have to be by unanimous consent. Senate Democrats like
SHERROD BROWN of Ohio and
AMY KLOBUCHAR of Minnesota put out statements this morning calling for immediate passage of the House bill.
UP NEXT? More legislating. Here’s how House Majority Whip
STENY HOYERput it: “Next week, we know there is going to be a necessity, as we did in ’09, make sure the economy is supported. They’re going to be working on that. We are going to be discussing it with leaders of the economy, leaders of business.”
WOW. JUST LIKE 2009. Think about that.
OVER THE LAST COUPLE OF DAYS, we’ve gotten a lot of emails likening coronavirus to previous disasters. Think Katrina. TARP.
NADEAM ELSHAMI a former top Pelosi aide emailed us this: “Pick your timeframe and choose your emotion: post 9/11 and fear, anthrax attacks and sense of dread; the rush to war in Iraq and anger; the DC sniper and vigilance; 2008 economic meltdown and worry. At this moment, in this town, it feels like all these recent times in our history and all the emotions are one.”