参议院多数党领袖米奇·麦康奈尔(Mitch McConnell)本周提出了一个可能的共和党COVID-19救援计划，几天后，参议院议员开始离开国会，前往周末，但看不到任何计划。
共和党领导层周四不会提出计划，一些成员表示，他们现在正期待下周初可能的提案。
阿拉巴马州理查·谢尔比参议员。周一的时候，共和党参议员凯文·克莱默告诉美国广播公司新闻，他被告知不要期待周四的计划，会议还远未达成一致。此前，美国财政部长史蒂文·姆努钦(Steven Mnuchin)和白宫办公厅主任马克·梅多斯(Mark Meadows)周四上午从麦康奈尔(McConnell)的办公室出来，向他透露了共和党刺激法案的一些细节。姆努钦说，“我们确实在白宫和参议院的共和党人之间达成了一项基本协议。”
Mnuchin说，他们已经同意了一项失业救济金，当加入到国家救济金中时，将相当于一个人失业前收入的70%。
但由于共和党人和特朗普政府未能就下一个冠状病毒救助法案达成更全面的协议，该法案将引发与民主党人的谈判，本周末，约2500万美国人将有资格获得他们最后的600美元扩大失业支票。
两名共和党助手告诉美国广播公司新闻，在某些情况下，联邦福利的平均增长将从每周600美元下降到大约每周200美元。不过，这些数字会有所不同，因为它是基于收入的百分比。
“我们不会在基本工资替换的基础上延长它，它大约是工资替换的70%。我们正在处理与此相关的机械问题。”
但是许多人担心陈旧的国家系统——已经很难每周支付600美元的额外费用——将无法承受额外的负担。俄亥俄州共和党参议员罗布·波特曼说，减税和新的计算方法将导致福利分配延迟几周到两个月。
罗恩·怀登参议员——处理失业问题的委员会中的最高民主党人——发表了一份严厉的声明，抨击共和党人让福利失效。
“由于古老的技术，各州需要一到四周的时间来调整600美元的提价。在这么晚的时候，唯一能保证福利不失效的选择就是民主党延长每周600美元福利的计划。”
该法案的另一个重点是重新开放学校，姆努钦说，共和党人已经同意众议院议长南希·佩洛西提出的为此投入1000亿美元的提议。事实上，姆努钦说，他们又向学校投入了50亿美元，以增加交易的甜头，一些学校按比例获得资金，一些学校获得更多资金来装备设施，以便亲自重新开放。
罗伊·布朗特参议员。一个教育小组委员会的主席告诉记者，其中700亿美元将用于小学和中学，其余的将用于高等教育机构。布朗特说，在为K-12学校提供的700亿美元中，“其中一半将按人均水平分配给每所学校。另一半将去费用更高的学校，因为他们将回到传统的学校环境，而不是只使用远程学习选项。我们将制定出一种语言，让州长们能够决定这意味着什么，同时让学区和学校董事会清楚地知道，在返校的环境中，他们需要做些什么。”
一位要求匿名讨论交易细节的共和党参议员表示，会议中有人担心，这将被视为对不选择或无法复课的学校的惩罚。学校和失业是优先考虑的问题，因为他们赶不上最后期限。姆努钦和梅多斯表示，如果其他问题不能很快达成一致，他们愿意只关注这两个问题，并在晚些时候提出一系列法案来解决其他问题。
姆努钦说:“我们的理解是，将会提出多项法案。”梅多斯补充说:“其他一些拨款问题，虽然它们同样重要，但可能不会有同样紧迫的最后期限，因此我们可以用一种分层的方式来看待这个问题。”
Mnuchin总结道:“我们想做所有的事情，但是如果我们不能做所有的事情，我们需要尽快解决用户界面、学校和责任问题。”
姆努钦试图为白宫在削减工资税的要求上让步挽回面子，他说，唐纳德·特朗普总统明白，直接刺激付款将更快地把钱交到美国人手中。他说:“总统之所以愿意削减工资税，是因为他明白，如果我们在8月份把钱交到人民手中，这将有助于他们，有助于经济，而且我们已经证明，我们能够迅速支付这5000万美元，而工资税削减将在4到5个月内实施，而且还存在一些样本问题。”Mnuchin说，第二轮刺激检查的收入水平与第一轮相同。
然而，特朗普在周四下午早些时候在推特上说，“民主党已经强烈声明他们不会批准工资税削减(太糟糕了!)。这对工人来说太好了。因此，共和党人不想要它。像往常一样，民主党正在伤害我们国家的劳动人民!”
但许多共和党人表示，他们现在不支持削减工资税。参议院第二号人物约翰·图恩(John Thune)对ABC表示:“有很多共和党人出于各种不同的原因不喜欢这项政策，但其中一个原因是我们认为它不会改变人们的行为。”我的意思是，如果你在今年第四季度的支票上增加了60美元，而你已经有了各种各样的度假用品，那么这与收到一张你可以马上花掉的邮寄支票之间的区别就大了。”在谈到工资税削减时，图恩补充说，“我不是一个支持者”，这一观点得到了众所周知的反对削减工资税的共和党参议员约翰·科宁的支持。
Senate GOP won't roll out expected stimulus bill this week
After days of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell projecting a possible Republican COVID-19 relief plan this week, members of the Senate are beginning to depart the Capitol for the weekend with no plan in sight.
Republican leadership will not put forward a plan Thursday, and several members have said they are now looking to early next week for a possible proposal.
Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., pointed to Monday as a possibility while Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., told ABC News he was told not to expect the plan Thursday and that the conference is far from in agreement. This came after Thursday morning when Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows emerged from McConnell's office with some details on the GOP stimulus bill, with Mnuchin saying "we do have a fundamental agreement between the White House and Republicans in the Senate."
Mnuchin said they have agreed to an unemployment benefit that -- when added to state benefits -- would amount to 70% of what a person made before they lost their job.
But with Republicans and the Trump administration failing to reach a fuller agreement on the next coronavirus relief bill, which would trigger negotiations with Democrats, some 25 million Americans will, this weekend, qualify for their last $600 expanded unemployment checks.
Two GOP aides told ABC News that the average increase from the federal benefit would drop from $600 a week to about $200 a week in some cases. The numbers would vary, though, because it would be based on a percentage of income.
"We aren't going to extend it on the base wage replacement, it's approximately 70% of wage replacement. We're dealing with the mechanical issues associated with that," Mnuchin said Thursday morning.
But many worry that antiquated state systems -- which have struggled to get the added $600 check out each week -- would not be able to handle an additional burden. Sen Rob Portman, R-Ohio, said the reduction and new calculation would lead to a weeks-long to a two-month delay in distributing benefits.
Sen. Ron Wyden -- top Democrat on the committee that handles unemployment -- came out with a scathing statement blasting Republicans for letting the benefit lapse.
"Due to ancient technology, states need between one and four weeks to adjust the $600 boost. At this late hour, the only option to guarantee benefits do not lapse is the Democratic plan to extend the $600 weekly benefit," it read.
The other main focus for this bill is reopening schools, and Mnuchin said Republicans have agreed to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's proposed $100 billion for that effort. In fact, Mnuchin said they threw another $5 billion for schools to sweeten the deal, with some schools getting funding on a pro-rata basis and some getting more to equip facilities to reopen in person.
Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., who chairs an education subcommittee, told reporters that $70 billion of that would go to elementary and secondary schools with the remainder to higher education institutions. Of the $70 billion for K-12 schools, Blunt said, "Half of that will go to every school on a per capita basis. The other half will go to schools that will have more expenses, because they're going back to a traditional school setting, as opposed to only using the distance learning option. And we'll come up with language that allows the governors to determine what that means and language that also is clear to school districts and school boards -- what they'd have to do to be considered in a back to school environment."
One GOP senator who requested anonymity to discuss details of the deal said there is concern among some in the conference that this will be seen as penalizing schools that do not choose to -- or are unable to -- reopen. Schools and unemployment are the priority issues since they are up against deadlines, with Mnuchin and Meadows saying if other issues can't be agreed to quickly, they're willing to focus on just these two and proceed with a series of bills later to address other matters.
"It's our understanding that there will be multiple bills introduced," Mnuchin said. "Some of the other appropriation issues, while they're equally as important may not have the same pressing deadlines so that allows us to look at that in a tiered manner," Meadows added on.
"We'd like to do everything, but if we can't do everything the priority is, we need to address UI, and schools and liability quickly," Mnuchin summarized.
Mnuchin tried to save face for the White house capitulating on the demand for a payroll tax cut, saying President Donald Trump understands that direct stimulus payments will get money into Americans' hands faster. "The reason why the President is willing to cut off payroll tax cut is because he understands that if we get money in people's hands in August, that is going to help them and help the economy, and we've proven, we can deliver those 50 million payments, quickly, whereas the payroll tax cut would come in over four or five months and also has some sample issues," he said. Mnuchin said they are looking at the same income levels for a second round of stimulus checks as the first set.
However, Trump tweeted early Thursday afternoon that "The Democrats have stated strongly that they won’t approve a Payroll Tax Cut (too bad!). It would be great for workers. The Republicans, therefore, didn’t want to ask for it. Dems, as usual, are hurting the working men and women of our Country!"
But numerous Republicans have said they do not support a payroll tax cut now. Sen. John Thune, number two in leadership, told ABC, "There are a lot of Republicans who don't like it for a lot of different reasons, but one of which is we don't think it changes behavior. I mean, if you get a $60 increase in your check in the fourth quarter of this year, when you already got all kinds of holiday stuff going on, the difference between that and getting a check in the mail that you actually can spend right away." Thune added of the payroll tax cut, "I’m not a fan," a sentiment echoed by Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, an ally of McConnell, who is known to oppose the cut.
