KARACHI – Senate Republicans met Monday with senior Trump administration officials to discuss countering the economic damage from the coronavirus pandemic and came away with a sense of urgency to act.
Senators talked behind closed doors with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who has been the lead negotiator between the administration and the House, and White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow, who attempted to ease concerns several Republicans have voiced with the pending coronavirus bill passed in the House. Both officials underscored the need to pass the measure quickly.
“They understood,” Kudlow said of senators after the meeting. “They understood the urgency. You know, we’re trying to keep people from getting laid off. And we’re trying to help people on sick leave or take care of their families, whatever the case may be. And we’ve got some pretty distressed industries.”
The officials also expanded on what is to come, offering a preview of the next package the Trump administration wants Congress to take up that would help workers and families but also give a boost to the healthcare and airline industries. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., left the meeting with a sense of urgency, noting the need to pass a third coronavirus package as soon as this week due to concerns the Senate might not be able to reconvene if the virus worsens.
“I don’t think we can assume that we can keep reconvening the Senate every week, like the way we did it this week. I just don’t think we can make that assumption with the orders that are out there what might happen with airlines, with travel schedules, with individual members having to go into quarantine or being exposed,” he said. “I don’t think we can operate as if we can just bring the Senate and the House back together whenever we want.”
He said help for airlines would be central to the next package, calling it a potential “national security threat” if airlines halt operations. He said bailouts for specific industries differed from the financial rescue during the 2008 economic crisis. The bank bailout proved unpopular with many Americans who viewed as unfair to help the companies whose risk-taking sowed the seeds for the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.
“This is not an example of industries that have failed and made bad decisions and are asking for the taxpayer to bail them out,” Rubio said. “We are asking — we’re begging people — not to go out, not to go shopping, not to go to restaurants, not to go to bars and clubs and not to take trips. We are imposing restrictions for – and rightfully so, there is economic costs associated with that.”
