Biden held White House meeting with 10 Republican senators to negotiate COVID relief measure

President Biden on Monday hosted a White House meeting with 10 Republican senators to negotiate a COVID relief package. 

The meeting followed the group of senators on Sunday sending Biden a counter-proposal that is about one-third of the cost of his proposed $1.9 trillion package. The senators have asked Biden, a Democrat, to try to reach a bipartisan deal, instead of using procedural measures to pass his plan.

“It was a very good exchange of views. I wouldn’t say we came together on a package tonight. No one expected that in a two-hour meeting,” Sen. Susan Collins said Monday evening, according to the Washington Post. “But what we did agree to do is follow up and talk further.”

The Democrat-controlled House and Senate are set to vote as soon as this week on a budget resolution – a procedural measure that lays the groundwork for passing an aid package under rules requiring only a simple-majority vote in the closely divided Senate.

The GOP counter proposal includes $160 billion for vaccines, testing, treatment and personal protective equipment and calls for more targeted relief than Biden’s plan to issue $1,400 stimulus checks for most Americans.

The group of Republican lawmakers was led by Sen. Susan Collins, of Maine. The others included Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska; Mitt Romney of Utah; Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia; Todd Young of Indiana; Jerry Moran of Kansas; Thom Tillis of North Carolina; Bill Cassidy of Louisiana; Rob Portman of Ohio; and Mike Rounds of South Dakota according to the Associated Press, which noted that Rounds of South Dakota participated in the meeting by phone.