Tag Archives: Mnuchin

Senate Republicans push back on McConnell’s $1 trillion U.S. coronavirus relief proposal

By David Morgan and Patricia Zengerle

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Republicans in the U.S. Senate pushed back on Tuesday against their own party’s $1 trillion coronavirus relief proposal the day after it was unveiled by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, sending some U.S. stocks downward.

McConnell and the chamber’s top Republicans unveiled the coronavirus aid package hammered out with the White House just four days before the expiration of expanded unemployment benefits keeping millions of Americans afloat during the crisis. The proposal would slash the federal benefit from $600 per week in addition to state unemployment, to $200.

Democrats have also rejected the package, calling it too small compared with their $3 trillion plan that passed the House of Representatives in May. Dissident Republicans criticized its expense.

McConnell touted the proposal as a “tailored and targeted” plan to reopen schools and businesses, while protecting companies from lawsuits.

Some U.S. stocks dropped as investors worried about the resurgence in coronavirus cases and awaited progress on the relief plan. [.N]

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham estimated that half the party’s members in the Senate would oppose the plan.

“I think if Mitch can get half the conference that’d be quite an accomplishment,” Graham told reporters. Graham said he considers this a war against the coronavirus. “You have to spend money when you’re in a war.”

Multiple Republican senators call the plan too costly.

“I’m not for borrowing another trillion dollars,” Republican Senator Rand Paul told reporters.

The Republican proposal would give many Americans direct payments of $1,200 each, provide billions in loans to small businesses, support hospitals and help schools reopen.

The federal supplemental unemployment benefit has been a financial lifeline for laid-off workers and a key support for consumer spending. Democrats quickly denounced the proposed cut as draconian when millions of Americans cannot return to shuttered workplaces.

PARTISAN DISPUTES

Many Republicans insist the unemployment payout encourages Americans to stay home rather than go back to work by paying them more than their previous wages. Their proposal would provide the $200 weekly payment in place until states create a system to provide a 70% wage replacement for laid-off workers.

Democrats said the $200 plan would damage the economy.

“People want to work, Republican friends. They just don’t have jobs to do it. We’re not going to let them starve while that happens,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said.

Democrats also want money for state and local governments, which face multi-billion dollar budget shortfalls, with businesses closed and residents out of work.

“Our residents, our businesses, our families, they need direct federal support now,” said Savannah, Georgia, Mayor Van Johnson, one of a group of Democratic and Republican mayors on a conference call with reporters.

Bipartisan lawmakers questioned why funds for some programs that seemed to have nothing to do with the pandemic – such as $1.8 billion for a new Federal Bureau of Investigation headquarters – were in the proposal.

Schumer and Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi were due to meet later on Tuesday with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who had lunch with Republican senators.

The partisan wrangling comes as U.S. coronavirus cases have passed 4.3 million, with nearly 150,000 people killed in the country, and tens of millions out of work.

The Democratic-led House in May passed its $3 trillion coronavirus relief bill known as the “HEROES Act,” but the Republican-led Senate would not consider it.

McConnell acknowledged that the Republican “HEALS Act” was just a starting point for negotiations, and would need bipartisan support to become law.

“The HEALS Act is full of provisions that I would frankly dare my Democratic colleagues to actually say they oppose,” McConnell said.

(Reporting by David Morgan, Patricia Zengerle and Susan Cornwell in Washington; Additional reporting by Lisa Lambert in Washington; Writing by Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Scott Malone and Matthew Lewis)

U.S. Republicans to unveil coronavirus aid proposal as time runs out on jobless benefits

By Susan Cornwell and David Lawder

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Senate Republicans on Monday are expected to unveil a $1 trillion coronavirus aid package hammered out with the White House, a starting point for negotiations with Democrats as unemployment benefits that have kept millions of Americans afloat are set to expire.

White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows told reporters on Sunday that the plan just needed a few clarifications before Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell could unveil it on Monday afternoon.

Meadows and U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said their agreement in principle with Senate Republicans would include an extension of supplemental unemployment benefits that aims to replace 70% of laid off workers’ lost wages.

On Friday, an extra $600 per week in supplemental unemployment benefits is due to expire, severing a financial lifeline for laid-off workers and a key support for consumer spending.

But the extra funds – in some cases exceeding a workers’ former wages – was a sticking point for many Republicans, helping to delay agreement during a week of wrangling over the party’s negotiating position.

Some Republicans had complained about the high price tag; the federal government has already spent $3.7 trillion to cushion the economic blow from pandemic-forced shutdowns.

Mnuchin and Meadows earlier on Sunday floated the idea of a piecemeal approach to coronavirus aid, first addressing unemployment and demands by businesses and schools to be shielded from coronavirus-related lawsuits, while tackling other issues later.

“We are going to be prepared, on Monday, to provide unemployment insurance extension that would be 70% of wages,” Meadows said on ABC’s “This Week” program on Sunday.

DEMOCRATS’ DEMANDS

Democrats decried the Republican delay as U.S. coronavirus cases passed the 4 million mark, a milestone for a pandemic that has killed more than 146,000 people in the United States and thrown tens of millions out of work.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday that if necessary, the House would stay in session until a deal is passed and added that Democrats would not accept a measure urged by Republicans to include liability protections for employers.

“What we will not support is what they’re saying to essential workers: ‘You have to go to work because you’re essential, we place no responsibility on your employer to make that workplace safe and if you get sick you have no recourse because we’ve given your employer protection,'” she said.

Pelosi has said that House Democrats would pursue the $3 trillion coronavirus aid bill that they passed in May, which would extend the extra $600 a week in unemployment benefits through the end of 2020.

The Republican plan will include another round of direct payments of $1,200 for individuals, White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow told CNN. He said it also would extend a federal moratorium on housing evictions contained in previous relief legislation.

Senate aides said the Republican plan also have more help for small businesses, $105 billion for schools, $16 billion for coronavirus testing, and legal protections for business that are reopening.

(Reporting by Susan Cornwell and David Lawder; Editing by Peter Cooney and Gerry Doyle)

Mnuchin says no payroll tax cut in coronavirus relief bill

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said on Thursday the White House is interested in getting a trillion-dollar coronavirus relief bill out quickly and will not include the payroll tax cut long sought by President Donald Trump.

Mnuchin also said the White House was working with Senate Republicans to hammer out language on extending enhanced unemployment benefits that expire on July 31.

Asked whether a payroll tax cut would be included in the proposal being put forth by Senate Republicans, Mnuchin said, “Not in this, but we’re going to come back. You know there might be a CARES 5.0.”

Mnuchin said he and White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows would be going to Capitol Hill again on Thursday morning to meet with Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

“One of the problems with the payroll tax cut is it takes time, so we are much more focused right now on the direct payments,” Mnuchin told reporters outside the White House.

“The unemployment insurance – we’re going back up to see the new language and work through that, he said. “We’re not going to pay people more to stay home than to work. So we’re looking at something that looks like a 70% wage replacement and working on the mechanics.”

The Treasury secretary told reporters the proposal being worked out by Senate Republicans will include $16 billion in new funding for coronavirus testing, for a total of $25 billion.

“We’re focused on putting another trillion in quickly, that’ll be CARES 4.0. If we’ve got to come back for CARES 5.0, for more money, the president will consider that the time,” Mnuchin said in an interview earlier with CNBC.

(Reporting by Lisa Lambert and Doina Chiacu; Editing by Alex Richardson and Jonathan Oatis)

White House team to meet House Democrats as talks for new coronavirus bill pick up

By David Morgan and Susan Cornwell

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. congressional negotiations aimed at hammering out an agreement on a new coronavirus aid package intensified on Tuesday as COVID-19 infections and deaths surged to record levels across the United States.

The Republican-led Senate, Democratic-controlled House of Representatives and the White House have less than two weeks to agree on a legislative package before assistance runs out for tens of millions of Americans made jobless by the coronavirus pandemic.

Negotiators, however, remained far apart over how much money to spend and which priorities to spend it on, as the United States leads the world with more than 3.8 million coronavirus cases and over 140,900 deaths.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows met with Senate Republicans at midday and were scheduled for a discussion with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer later in the afternoon.

Asked if a deal could be worked out by the end of the week, Pelosi replied with a laugh: “The end of the week? You mean the month. I’m hoping for the end of the month.”

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Republicans would soon unveil a new coronavirus bill that is expected to have a $1 trillion price tag.

He said it would include $105 billion for schools; assistance for small businesses; direct payments to individuals and families; help for businesses to meet the cost of protecting employees and customers; money for vaccines, diagnostics and treatments; and liability protection for businesses, healthcare facilities, churches, charities and government agencies.

Democrats are proposing $175 billion to help elementary and secondary schools cope with the pandemic and have said they are determined to fight for provisions in a $3 trillion bill that passed the House in May and includes aid to state and local governments, extended unemployment insurance and protections for workers.

“An outcome will require bipartisan discussions. I do not believe there will be anything in our bill that our Democratic colleagues should not happily support,” McConnell said on the Senate floor.

Schumer called on Republicans to begin bipartisan negotiations now rather than first produce their own bill. “I urge all of my Republican colleagues to abandon their one-party, one-chamber approach before it’s too late and immediately begin bipartisan, bicameral negotiations,” he said.

President Donald Trump has called for a payroll tax cut to be included in legislation, a provision Meadows described on Tuesday as “a very high priority.” But Democrats, including House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, said there was little enthusiasm for such a move.

Trump is seeking a payroll tax cut ahead of the November election and sees it as a major stimulus for the pandemic-stricken U.S. economy, according to the White House. Democrats have said such a move is unnecessary and could threaten Social Security benefits for the elderly.

(Reporting by David Morgan, Susan Cornwell and Richard Cowan; Editing by Scott Malone, Andrew Heavens, Jonathan Oatis and Dan Grebler)

U.S. Congress girds for a fight over new coronavirus aid bill

By David Morgan and Doina Chiacu

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Senate Democrats are prepared to block Republicans from moving forward on a partisan coronavirus aid bill, the chamber’s top Democrat warned on Monday, as Republican leaders were expected to meet at the White House to discuss legislation.

The Republican-controlled Senate and Democratic-led House of Representatives have less than two weeks to hammer out a new relief package before enhanced unemployment benefits run out for tens of millions of American workers made jobless by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy were due to discuss legislation with President Donald Trump and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin at the White House on Monday, a White House official said over the weekend.

But Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer warned Republicans not to try to move forward on their own legislation, saying Senate and House Democrats would unite to demand bipartisan action.

“We will stand together again if we must,” Schumer said in a letter to colleagues. “A bipartisan, bicameral process will result in a much better bill for the American people.”

Congress has so far passed legislation committing $3 trillion to the crisis. In the more than 12 weeks since Trump signed the last response law, the number of U.S. coronavirus cases has more than tripled to over 3.7 million.

Similar partisan standoffs preceded the last bills.

Senate Republican plans to unveil a coronavirus bill this week have been upstaged by a White House effort to eliminate billions of dollars for coronavirus testing and tracing from the legislation.

“That goes beyond ignorance. It’s just beyond the pale. Hopefully, it was a mistake and they’ll back off it, because it is so very wrong,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told MSNBC.

Republicans and Democrats appear to be far apart on what should be included in the next coronavirus package.

Republicans have circulated draft documents laying out liability protections for businesses, schools, government agencies and charities.

Democrats, who oppose liability protections, have pledged to fight for legislation akin to the $3 trillion bill that the House approved in mid-May. McConnell has said his bill would not cost more than $1 trillion.

(Reporting by Doina Chiacu and David Morgan; Editing by Scott Malone and Jonathan Oatis)

U.S. Treasury chief sees ‘significant amount’ for schools in next coronavirus aid bill

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Friday that he expects the next coronavirus aid bill to provide a “significant amount of money” to help U.S. K-12 schools to reopen safely.

Mnuchin made the comment during a U.S. House of Representatives Small Business Committee hearing at which he also said more funding was needed to help businesses hardest hit by the pandemic, such as travel related industries.

The Trump administration has been pushing for schools to reopen in the fall, which would allow many parents to return to work and help revive the economy.

(Reporting by David Lawder; Editing by Chris Reese)

Treasury’s Mnuchin open to blanket forgiveness for smaller business relief loans

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Friday policymakers should consider blanket forgiveness for all smaller businesses that received “Paycheck Protection Program” loans.

Mnuchin told lawmakers that they should consider such an approach to reduce complexity, coupled with some form of fraud protection.

He also said the Trump administration supports adding more funds to the $660 billion program, as well as allowing especially hard-hit businesses to apply for a second emergency loan.

He did not define how small a loan would have to be to qualify for automatic forgiveness, and added it should be paired with some form of fraud protection without going into detail. Several business and banking groups have pushed for blanket forgiveness for all loans under $150,000, arguing the requirements for applying for forgiveness under the program are too complex.

His comments come as Congress is preparing further economic relief legislation to support businesses and people harmed by pandemic lockdowns. Roughly $100 billion remains in the PPP, a forgivable loan program created by the initial stimulus package, is set to expire on Aug. 8.

Mnuchin added that he would also support applying some sort of “revenue test” to future PPP loans to make sure the remaining funds go to businesses that need it the most. The PPP has come under criticism after wealthy and larger companies secured loans under the program, which was billed as relief for small businesses.

“This time, we need to have a revenue test and make sure that money is going to businesses that have significant revenue declines,” he said.

He also said he would support efforts to set aside a portion of remaining PPP funds for minority-owned businesses, amid concerns from some lawmakers that those businesses were struggling to secure funding.

(Reporting by Pete Schroeder; Editing by Nick Zieminski)

U.S. Supreme Court allows prosecutor but not Congress to get Trump’s financial records

By Lawrence Hurley and Jan Wolfe

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday firmly rejected President Donald Trump’s argument for sweeping presidential immunity and ruled that a New York prosecutor can obtain his financial records but prevented – at least for now – Democratic-led House of Representatives committees from getting similar documents.

Both 7-2 rulings were authored by conservative Chief Justice John Roberts. The court made it clear that a sitting president cannot evade a criminal investigation, ruling that the subpoena issued to Trump’s long-term accounting firm, Mazars LLP, for various financial records to be turned over to a grand jury as part of a criminal investigation can be enforced.

But the court sidestepped a major ruling on whether three House committees could also obtain Trump financial documents under subpoena, giving Trump at least a short-term win. Litigation will now continue in lower courts in both cases.

In both rulings, Roberts was joined by the four liberal justices as well as Trump’s two conservative appointees to the court, Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch. Conservative Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito both dissented.

“This is a tremendous victory for our nation’s system of justice and its founding principle that no one – not even a president – is above the law,” said Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, a Democrat, in relation to the ruling in his case.

Vance and the House committees all issued subpoenas to third parties for the records, not the Republican president himself.

Trump turned to Twitter complained about the rulings, writing on Twitter: “Courts in the past have given ‘broad deference’. BUT NOT ME!” He added, “This is all a political prosecution … and now I have to keep fighting in a politically corrupt New York. Not fair to this Presidency or Administration!”

The New York case ruling does not mean the documents will be handed over immediately because of expected wrangling in lower courts. A final outcome could be delayed in both cases until after the Nov. 3 election in which Trump is seeking a second term in office.

“We will now proceed to raise additional constitutional and legal issues in the lower courts,” said Jay Sekulow, Trump’s personal lawyer.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Democrats would not stop investigating Trump and would press forward in seeking to enforce the subpoenas.

“Congress’s constitutional responsibility to uncover the truth continues, specifically related to the President’s Russia connection that he is hiding,” Pelosi said, in reference to the contention that Trump’s financial records could show such an entanglement.

NO ‘ABSOLUTE’ IMMUNITY

Roberts rejected both the broad arguments for presidential immunity made by Trump’s lawyers and the sweeping arguments made in favor of the House’s ability to investigate the president.

Trump’s argument that he was immune from any criminal process “runs up against the 200 years of precedent establishing that Presidents, and their official communications, are subject to judicial process,” Roberts wrote in the New York case.

“We affirm that principle today and hold that the president is neither absolutely immune from state criminal subpoenas seeking his private papers nor entitled to a heightened standard of need,” Roberts added.

Roberts also rejected the suggestion that the decision would subject future presidents to harassment by local prosecutors, noting that the court in 1997 rejected a similar argument made by President Bill Clinton when he faced a civil lawsuit brought by Paula Jones, a woman who accused him of making unwanted sexual advances.

“Given these safeguards and the court’s precedents, we cannot conclude that absolute immunity is necessary or appropriate,” Roberts wrote.

Roberts’ analysis of the congressional subpoenas hinged on the competing political interests between different branches of government.

“Congressional subpoenas for the President’s personal information implicate weighty concerns regarding the separation of powers,” Roberts wrote. “Neither side, however, identifies an approach that accounts for these concerns.”

Unlike other recent presidents, Trump has refused to release his tax returns and other documents that could provide details on his wealth and the activities of his family real-estate company, the Trump Organization. The content of these records has remained a persistent mystery even as he seeks re-election.

House committees issued subpoenas seeking Trump’s financial records from his longtime accounting firm Mazars LLP and two banks, Deutsche Bank and Capital One.

As part of a criminal investigation by Vance’s office, subpoenas were issued to Mazars for financial records including nearly a decade of Trump’s tax returns to be turned over to a grand jury in New York City.

The investigation launched by Vance’s office in 2018 into Trump and the Trump Organization was spurred by disclosures of hush payments to two women who said they had past sexual relationships with him, pornographic film actress Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal. Trump and his aides have denied the relationships.

In the litigation over the House subpoenas, Trump argued that Congress lacked a valid purpose for seeking his records and that disclosure of the material would compromise his and his family’s privacy and distract him from his duties.

In the New York case, Trump’s lawyers argued that under the Constitution he is immune from any criminal proceeding while serving as president. In a lower court hearing, Trump’s lawyers went so far as to argue that law enforcement officials would not have the power to investigate Trump even if he shot someone on New York’s Fifth Avenue.

The House Oversight Committee in April 2019 issued a subpoena to Mazars seeking eight years of accounting and other financial information in response to the congressional testimony of Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer. Cohen said Trump had inflated and deflated certain assets on financial statements between 2011 and 2013 in part to reduce his real estate taxes.

The House Financial Services Committee has been examining possible money laundering in U.S. property deals involving Trump. In a separate investigation, the House Intelligence Committee is investigating whether Trump’s dealings left him vulnerable to the influence of foreign individuals or governments.

(Reporting by Jan Wolfe and Lawrence Hurley in Washington; Additional reporting by Andrew Chung; Editing by Will Dunham)

U.S. Treasury’s Mnuchin says Trump eyeing restaurant tax changes, travel boost

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Monday said bipartisan discussions are underway over whether more U.S. government relief funding is needed amid the nation’s novel coronavirus outbreak, but that President Donald Trump is focused on taxes and travel.

In an interview on Fox Business Network, Mnuchin said the Trump administration was prepared to back additional coronavirus stimulus money for American businesses if needed, but that right now it was carefully monitoring the economy as some states restart activity.

Mnuchin said Trump wanted tax changes to make businesses’ entertainment expenses “fully tax deductible like it used to be … to get people to go back to restaurants.”

“The president’s also looking about ways to stimulate travel,” he added. “As the economy opens up, I think you’ll see demand coming back,” for domestic travel, he said, although it’s “too hard to tell” if international travel could open up later in 2020.

Congress has already passed several major coronavirus relief bills worth nearly $3 trillion during the pandemic, but Democratic lawmakers and both Republican and Democratic governors have called for billions more to help shore up local governments battered by the outbreak as they grapple with infections and historic waves of unemployment.

“We’ve put $3 trillion out, if we need to put more money out to support American business and American workers, the president’s absolutely prepared to do that,” Mnuchin said. “We’re also going to take into account what the economic impact is as we open up the economy.”

“We’re beginning to have conversations on a bipartisan basis, we’re going through the issues, we’re going to have very detailed discussions,” he added, when asked if June could be a target for the next wave of federal aid from Congress.

On Sunday, White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said he would not rule out anything in a new relief bill, including more money for state and local governments and small businesses.

(Reporting by Susan Heavey; additional reporting by Lisa Lambert; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Jonathan Oatis)

Mnuchin says U.S. economy could open in May, defying experts

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Thursday that the American economy could start to reopen for business in May, despite many medical experts saying that closures and social distancing measures will need to stay in place for longer to defeat the coronavirus.

Asked on CNBC whether he thought President Donald Trump could reopen the U.S. economy in May, Mnuchin said, “I do.”

“As soon as the president feels comfortable with the medical issues, we are making everything necessary that American companies and American workers can be open for business and that they have the liquidity they need to operate the business in the interim.”

U.S. economists have cautioned against bringing large numbers of people back to their workplaces too quickly.

“When the spread of the virus is under control, businesses will reopen, and people will come back to work,” Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said in Washington on Thursday morning. “There is every reason to believe that the economic rebound, when it comes, can be robust.”

Trump on Wednesday said he hoped to reopen the economy with a “big bang” once the death toll from the virus is on the downslope. He did not give a timeframe for that reopening, but his chief economic adviser, Larry Kudlow, said on Tuesday it could take place in four to eight weeks.

Economists have cautioned against bringing large numbers of people back to workplaces too quickly, because that could spark new outbreaks and deal a major setback to recovery efforts.

A paper co-authored by Massachusetts Institute of Technology economist Emil Verner in March about the response to the 1918 flu epidemic found that cities that restricted public gatherings sooner and longer had fewer deaths – and ultimately emerged from that pandemic with stronger economic growth.

Weighing the economy against protecting people from infection or death is a “false tradeoff” he told Reuters in March.

Fed Chair Powell took a more cautious approach to reopening the economy, saying that much depended on the advice of medical experts and the government’s health officials.

But speaking in a Brookings Institution webcast event, he said he welcomed a healthy debate on how and when the economy could be reopened safely.

“We need to have a plan, nationally, for reopening the economy,” Powell said. “While we all want it to happen as quickly as possible, we all want to avoid a false start, where we partially reopen and that results in a spike in coronavirus cases and then we have to go back again to square one.”

(Reporting by David Lawder; editing by Jonathan Oatis)