The group of 10 Republican lawmakers has requested a meeting with President Biden to discuss their plan.<\/b>
\nWASHINGTON \u2014 Ten Republican senators announced plans Sunday to release an approximately $600 billion COVID relief package that could serve as a bipartisan alternative to President Joe Biden\u2019s $1.9 trillion plan, and requested a meeting with the president to discuss it. The senators, led by Susan Collins, R-Maine, said they would release additional details of the package on Monday. In a letter to Biden they said they were offering their proposal in recognition of the president\u2019s \u201ccalls for unity.\u201d \u201cWe want to work in good faith with you and your administration to meet the health, economic and societal challenges of the COVID crisis,\u201d they wrote. Their move comes as Democrats prepare to move forward on Monday to set up a partisan path forward for Biden\u2019s relief bill, which Republicans have dismissed as overly costly given some $4 trillion Congress has already committed to fighting the pandemic, including $900 billion in December. The GOP proposal is expected to jettison certain elements that have drawn Republican opposition, such as increasing the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour. It would also significantly narrow eligibility for a new round of $1,400 stimulus checks Biden wants to send to individual Americans. Biden\u2019s plan would cap eligibility for the checks at individuals making $75,000 a year and couples making $150,000. A $600 billion plan that is a fraction of the size of Biden\u2019s proposal is unlikely to draw much if any Democratic support. However, the GOP offer presents a test for Biden, who campaigned on being a bipartisan deal-maker and now must decide whether to ignore the GOP overture or make a genuine effort to find common ground across the aisle. Top Biden economic adviser Brian Deese said on CNN\u2019s \u201cState of the Union\u201d that the White House had received the Republicans\u2019 letter and would review it. But he emphasized that speed was of the essence, and refused to say whether Biden was open to entertaining a smaller overall price tag. \u201cThe president is uncompromising when it comes to the speed that we need to act at to address this crisis,\u201d Deese said. \u201cThe provisions of the president\u2019s plan, the American Rescue Plan, are calibrated to the economic crisis that we face,\u201d he said. Because the Senate is split 50-50 between Republicans and Democrats, it is significant that Republicans assembled 10 lawmakers to get behind the proposal. That means that, if Democrats were to join them, they could reach the 60-vote threshold necessary to pass legislation under regular Senate procedures. Democrats are planning to skirt the 60-vote requirement using special budget rules that would allow the Biden package to pass with a simple majority vote. Democrats control the Senate because Vice President Kamala Harris can cast tie-breaking votes. Democratic aides said the GOP proposal would not change their plans to move forward with the budget bill this week that would set the stage for party-line passage of Biden\u2019s plan. Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, one of the signers of the letter, said the GOP plan would lower those thresholds to $50,000 for individuals and $100,000 for couples. Instead of $1,400 checks, the GOP plan would propose $1,000 checks, according to Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., another member of the group. Portman criticized Democrats for their plans to go it alone, saying this approach would \u201cjam Republicans and really jam the country.\u201d The signers of the letter include eight Republican senators who are part of a bipartisan group that has conferred with Biden administration officials about the relief bill. In addition to Collins, Portman and Cassidy, these are Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Mitt Romney of Utah, Todd Young of Indiana, Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia and Jerry Moran of Kansas. Also signing are Mike Rounds of South Dakota and Thom Tillis of North Carolina. Cassidy strongly criticized Biden for not soliciting the bipartisan group\u2019s input in crafting their plan. Speaking on \u201cFox News Sunday,\u201d Cassidy said the Republican package amounted to $600 billion and was \u201ctargeted to the needs of the American people.\u201d Cassidy said Biden\u2019s plan spent too much money on education, blaming schools not being open on Democratic allegiance to teachers\u2019 unions. Cassidy also said Biden\u2019s push to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour would cost millions of jobs. \u201cYou don\u2019t want bipartisanship. You want the patina of bipartisanship.\u2026 The president\u2019s team did not reach out to anybody in our group, either Democrat or Republican, when they fashioned their proposal,\u201d Cassidy said. \u201cThey\u2019ve never reached out to us \u2013 that\u2019s the beginning of the bad faith.\u201d Success. 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