President Trump made an unscheduled visit to the Capitol on Tuesday as lawmakers debated his emergency proposal to boost the economy and slow the spread of the coronavirus.
Mr. Trump emerged from a lunch meeting with Senate Republicans to say that a strong majority of them are on board with a temporary cut in payroll taxes.
“They were just about all there, mostly all there,” the president told reporters. “There’s a great feeling about doing a lot of things. That’s one of the things we talked about.”
People familiar with the talks said the president proposed eliminating payroll taxes through the end of the year. Workers pay 6.2% on the first $137,700 of their wages into Social Security, and pay 1.45% of income for Medicare. Employers match those amounts.
Mr. Trump also said they are preparing a package that would deliver aid to the travel industry.
“We want to protect our cruise ships. We want to protect our airline industry,” the president said.
The payroll tax cut proposal faces some opposition in both parties. Some Republicans believe the idea is an overreaction that would add to a $1 trillion-plus budget deficit.
“I don’t know if a payroll tax cut is the right stimulus, but we need something,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, South Carolina Republican. “Stabilize the economy and contain the virus.”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell didn’t specifically endorse a payroll tax cut after meeting with the president. He said Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin would “speak for us” in talks with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi later on Tuesday.
“We’re hoping that he and the speaker can pull this together so that we end up not playing partisan games at a time which seems to me to cry out for bipartisan, bicameral agreement,” Mr. McConnell said. “That’s what I’m hoping to see, and [to] see pretty soon.”
A Senate Republican source said the discussions between Mr. Mnuchin and Mrs. Pelosi will be key.
“Until they can agree on anything, it’s all worthless talk,” the Republican said.
Mr. Graham said there was also a discussion with the president about a possible bailout for the shale-oil industry, which is being hit hard by low prices stemming from a price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia.
“I don’t want to let the Russians get away with destroying competition,” Mr. Graham said.
“My feeling is the underlying economy is strong enough,” he said. “We’ll get through it. I think the stock market reaction, in large part, is due to the fact that it had gone up over such a long time and people were taking advantage of it there.”
Rep. Mike Braun, Indiana Republican, said lawmakers should be careful not to react to “hysteria,” especially when it comes to aiding large corporations.
“If it’s aimed at small businesses, you know I would probably look at it differently,” Mr. Braun said.
The president also wants to provide expanded paid sick leave for workers and aid for small businesses hit hard by the outbreak.
Senate Appropriations Chair Richard Shelby said he brought up infrastructure as a way to stabilize the economy. Leadership from across Capitol Hill and the White House have so far struggled to get any major agreement on how to tackle infrastructure, despite bipartisan interest in the issue.
“You talk about a stimulus that’s a big stimulus. It’s not a quick stimulus, but it could put a lot of people if think they need help, you know. we don’t know what the economy going to do yet,” said Mr. Shelby, Alabama Republican.
Mr. Mnuchin, Vice President Mike Pence and White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow also met with Senate Republicans Tuesday to discuss ways to stimulate the economy. But the White House team did not bring a finalized proposal to the Capitol.
Democratic leaders are rejecting the suggestion of a payroll tax cut, saying it’s not targeted specifically enough at people and businesses hurt by the outbreak.
“One of the dilemmas with the payroll tax is that if you’re if you’ve lost your job, or you’re in the gig economy, or many other things you’re not going to get anything, or if you would like so many Americans making $25,000 or less that ends up being $10 a week, and it’s not enough to really do anything, so,” said Rep. Don Beyer, vice chair of the House Joint Economic Committee.
On the other side of the Capitol, House Democrats are focusing on three legislative areas: paid sick leave, unemployment insurance and free testing — though, like Senate Republicans, Democrats don’t have a set plan on exactly when or what they’ll be voting on next.
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
• Gabriella Muñoz can be reached at gmunoz@washingtontimes.com.
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