参议院多数党领袖米奇·麦康奈尔已将此作为自己的红线:对学校、企业和其他实体的责任保护必须成为任何新政策的一部分冠状病毒救济包。
他一再表示，没有它，参议院不会通过新的纾困方案。
随着唐纳德·特朗普总统努力推动学校重新开放，这一问题已成为当务之急。
麦康奈尔与得克萨斯州共和党参议员约翰·科宁共同起草的一份立法摘要草案正在传阅，并于周五由美国广播公司获得。它将被纳入一个更全面的COVID-19救援计划，麦康奈尔和他的会议将于下周公布。
参议院共和党领袖数月来一直表示，他希望为学校、大学、教堂、政府机构和企业提供保护，美国一些最有影响力的利益团体，尤其是共和党人，如美国商会，已经坚决支持该法案。
2020年6月30日，华盛顿国会山，参议院多数党领袖米奇·麦康奈尔在共和党政策会议后的新闻发布会上听取提问。曼努埃尔·巴尔奇·塞内塔/美联社，档案
周四，肯塔基州的麦康奈尔在他家乡的一次活动中告诉记者，该法案将追溯到2019年12月，并持续到2024年或卫生与公众服务部的冠状病毒紧急声明结束，以较晚者为准。
McConnell说:“我们已经发现了与冠状病毒有关的大流行，在此之后，任何人都不应该面临一系列的诉讼。”
根据共和党一位领导助手的说法，该草案目前正在白宫接受审查。共和党人在草案中表示，“被告只有在未能做出合理努力遵守适用的公共卫生准则，并犯有重大过失或故意不当行为的情况下，才负有责任。”
2020年7月14日，在德克萨斯州怀利市怀利高中的教室里，阿尔玛·奥东戴着口罩，担心COVID-19病毒的传播。事实证明，让学生重返教室的成本是全美学校安全复课的一大绊脚石Lm奥特罗/美联社
该立法将要求联邦法院处理与“学校、学院、慈善机构、教堂、政府机构或企业因冠状病毒暴露而造成的人身伤害”以及“由特许医疗机构和医护人员提供冠状病毒护理或因冠状病毒提供的服务而引起的医疗责任索赔”相关的诉讼。
根据摘要，对于一线医护人员，该法案“仅限于重大过失和故意不当行为的责任。”
民主党人和工会表示，这样的提议可能会保护那些在众多州病毒缓解指导方针中没有保护工人的企业。
周五，纽约州参议院民主党领袖查克·舒默称该法案为“首席执行官的责任盾牌。”
尽管舒默说，他没有看到拟议的立法，也没有排除责任保护，他说，“我们想把工人放在第一位。这将是我们在谈判这一法案时的观察词。”
Senate GOP relief bill to include liability protections for schools, businesses that reopen
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has made it his red line: liability protection for schools, businesses and other entities hat reopen amid the pandemic must be part of any newcoronavirusrelief package.
No new relief will pass the Senate without it, he's said repeatedly.
And with President Donald Trump pushing hard for schools to reopen, the issue is at the forefront.
A draft summary of legislation McConnell helped craft with Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, is now circulating and was obtained by ABC Friday. It will be included in a more comprehensive COVID-19 relief package McConnell and his conference are set to unveil next week.
The Senate GOP leader has, for months, said he wants to provide protections for schools, universities, churches, government agencies, and businesses, and some of the nation's most influential interest groups, particularly among Republicans, such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, are already standing squarely behind the bill.
On Thursday, McConnell, R-Kentucky, told reporters at an event in his home state that the bill will be retroactive to December 2019 and run through 2024 or the end of the Department of Health and Human Services emergency coronavirus declaration, whichever is later.
"Nobody should have to face an epidemic of lawsuits on the heels of the pandemic that we already have related to the coronavirus," McConnell said.
In the draft -- currently under review at the White House, according to a GOP leadership aide - Republicans say, "Defendants are liable only if they failed to make reasonable efforts to follow applicable public-health guidelines and committed an act of gross negligence or intentional misconduct."
The legislation would have federal courts handle lawsuits related to "personal injuries arising from coronavirus exposure allegedly caused at a school, college, charity, church, government agency, or business" and "for medical liability claims arising out of the provision of care for coronavirus, or services provided as a result of coronavirus, by licensed healthcare facilities and healthcare workers."
For frontline healthcare workers, the bill "limits liability only to gross negligence and intentional misconduct," according to the summary.
Democrats and labor unions have said such a proposal could shield businesses that don't protect their workers amid a myriad of state virus mitigation guidelines.
On Friday, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., called the bill a "liability shield for CEOs."
Though Schumer said he had not seen the proposed legislation and did not rule out liability protections, he said, "We want to put workers first. That will be our watch word as we go through negotiating this bill."
