Mnuchin, Meadows head to Capitol Hill after Trump’s coronavirus budget plan gets frosty reception

The White House’s desire for a payroll tax cut and spending curbs was instantly confronted with bipartisan opposition.

Top administration officials will head to Capitol Hill on Tuesday for a full day of meetings after some of President Trump’s priorities in the next coronavirus spending package met with bipartisan resistance, prompting one GOP senator to call Trump’s pitch a “first draft.”

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows will meet with Republicans and Democrats about the tax and spending package. White House officials said they want to keep it at around $1 trillion, but Democrats have said they are targeting a much more substantial plan modeled after the $3 trillion Heroes Act that they passed in May.

Mnuchin and Meadows plan to meet with Senate GOP appropriators in the late morning to discuss Republican concerns about a White House push to cut new funding for testing, tracing, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. White House officials have also expressed opposition to extending more aid to states and cities, an issue that has split Republicans.

The two White House envoys also plan to attend the Senate Republican conference lunch and meet separately with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.). White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow is also expected to stop by the GOP lunch on Capitol Hill.

There has been little GOP enthusiasm for the payroll tax cut plan, even though Trump has said he might not sign a bill that doesn’t include it. And GOP leaders are expecting a hard sell on Tuesday but appear unwavering.

“His advocates — Mnuchin and Meadows and others — I think will probably try and ensure that it’s at least included in the first draft, let’s put it that way,” Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) told reporters. “I just think it’s, in the end, it’s all going to come down to … consensus and where the votes are, and there are a lot of Republicans who don’t like it, for a lot of different reasons.”