President Joe Biden will meet with ten Senate Republicans on Monday to discuss a bipartisan coronavirus rescue package.
The group of ten senators includes Sens. Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Bill Cassidy, Mitt Romney, Rob Portman, Shelley Moore Capito, Todd Young, Jerry Moran, Mike Rounds, and Thom Tillis.
The White House confirmed Sunday that Biden spoke with Collins and invited the group to a meeting at the White House “for a full exchange of views.”
The proposed Republican relief bill is only $618 billion with $1,000 personal direct payment relief checks and includes stricter income caps for individual recipients. It also lacks direct bailouts for cities and states.
“We appreciate the President’s quick response to our letter, and we are pleased to accept his invitation to the White House tomorrow afternoon to discuss the path forward for the sixth bipartisan COVID-19 relief package,” the group of ten senators wrote in a statement on Sunday.
Biden’s proposal is a $1.9 trillion package that would include $1,400 for direct payments and billions of money for schools and for state and local bailouts.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki noted Biden was committed to spending as much as possible on the relief package.
“As leading economists have said, the danger now is not in doing too much: it is in doing too little,” he wrote. “Americans of both parties are looking to their leaders to meet the moment.”