The U.S. Senate will begin debate next week on a fifth coronavirus-response bill, according to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. According to Reuters: “’Next week, we’ll be beginning a new bill,’ McConnell said during an interview with WRVK radio in his home state of Kentucky.
“McConnell added the legislation, which has not yet been unveiled, will likely be more contentious than the previous four coronavirus aid bills.
“’I do think we’ll get there and do something that needs to be done’ before Congress begins an August recess, the Republican senator predicted.”
The WASB has sent letters to Wisconsin Senators Baldwin and Johnson urging for their support for funding for schools in the bill and members should be on the lookout for a special action alert that will be sent out later this week that will make it easier for you to do the same.
In addition, McConnell has said he wants to include liability protections for schools and other entities as they reopen their operations even as COVID-19 cases surge in much of the nation.
Discussions in Congress regarding the shape and size of the next COVID-19 relief package have continued over the past couple of weeks but disagreements over the total size of the aid package have emerged. The White House, along with some Congressional Republicans, hope to cap the package at $1 trillion while Congressional Democrats strongly favor significantly more funding in the future legislation. In mid-May, Democrats in the House of Representatives passed a $3 trillion measure that McConnell and the Republican-controlled Senate have not taken up.
To date, there has been little public discussion about how much education aid will be included in the bill up for debate next week. As we noted in an earlier post, Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee who chairs the Senate Education Committee, has estimated it will take between $50 billion and $75 billion in federal assistance for K-12 schools and colleges and universities to reopen safely. Senate Democrats have proposed an additional roughly $200 billion for K-12 education, also noted in an earlier post.
