McConnell pushes 'non-controversial' COVID relief

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is suggesting that lawmakers pass COVID relief legislation with controversial issues, such as aid to state and local government's and liability protections, left out until Congress returns next month. "We can't leave without doing a COVID bill," McConnell said Tuesday afternoon. "The country needs it, that we have an agreement that we need to do this." Lawmakers are struggling to figure out how to deliver long-delayed pandemic relief, including additional help for hard-hit businesses, further unemployment benefits, funding to distribute COVID-19 vaccines and funding demanded by Democrats for state and local governments. The negotiating dynamic isn't entirely clear since there are parallel COVID-19 relief talks among both a group of more pragmatic lawmakers and the battle-scarred congressional leadership. A flashpoint is a demand by McConnell, R-Ky., to award businesses and universities, among others, a shield against lawsuits for COVID-related negligence. McConnell and business allies like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce say such suits threaten businesses with financial hardships from opportunistic lawsuits. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer disagrees. Republicans initially proposed a sweeping five-year liability shield, retroactive to December 2019, to protect companies and organizations from COVID-19-related lawsuits. Democrats, along with their allies in labor and civil rights groups, roundly dismissed that approach as a danger to workers. It's clear that McConnell's Republican majority is demanding the liability protection in exchange for the Democrats' push for additional money for states and cities battling the COVID-19 crisis. White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said Monday that Trump is comfortable with a deal along the lines of one being put together by the group of Senate moderates and pragmatists. That $900 billion plan does not include the direct payments sought by Trump before the election. Without another round of fresh aid, after the $1,200 checks sent to Americans in spring, lawmakers on the left and right said they would have trouble backing the package.