Congressional Democrats and President Trump and GOP leaders are firmly entrenched in opposing positions regarding additional coronavirus response legislation, with Democrats set to soon unveil a multitrillion dollar package, Republicans still advocating a pause amid deficit and other concerns, and no talks currently happening between them. The gulf between the two sides was the subject of stories in major newspapers over the weekend, and the situation doesn’t appear to have changed since House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said late last week of her forthcoming bill “we have to start someplace … we want to set a standard” but will “need a Presidential signature, so at some point we’ll have to come to agreement;” and President Trump said “we want to see what they have but I can’t say that we’re in a rush.”

The main new comments came from Treasury Secretary Mnuchin, who said yesterday on Fox News, “What the president and I are now saying is, we spent a lot of money, a lot of this money is not even into the economy yet, let’s take the next few weeks … We just want to make sure that before we jump back in and spend another few trillion of tax payers’ money that we do it carefully.”

The House Democratic bill could be unveiled early this week, though there is uncertainty over when exactly members will be brought back amid persistence of the virus in the Capital region. A leadership notice said it is possible that the House may meet this week but no earlier than Friday, May 15, and members will be given 72-hours’ notice beforehand. Speaker Pelosi has long said the next CARES 2/COVID 4 bill would have at its core a top-up of funding set out in the CARES Act. The bill may call for between $750 billion-$1 trillion in state and local funding; funding for nutritional benefits, Medicaid, unemployment insurance, and direct payments; and pension provisions, among other things.

More recently, Speaker Pelosi has said the package would also call for a national approach to testing, tracing, treatment, and isolation. A reported House Energy & Commerce Committee memo on the subject said, “Congress should develop a national program to track, identify, and isolate all possible traces of this disease. If we attempt to reopen this country without a sweeping approach that matches the magnitude of the crisis, more Americans will unnecessarily die.”

Members of both parties are concerned about increasing testing, even as President Trump said Friday “testing isn’t necessary.” Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-TN) spoke about the competitive ‘shark tank’-type project for rapid testing at NIH on Meet the Press yesterday and said what has been done in the U.S. is “enough to do what we need to do today to reopen but it’s not enough, for example” for the return of a large college campus. The HELP Committee holds a hearing tomorrow on “COVID-19: Safely Getting Back to Work and Back to School” with Administration health experts including Dr. Anthony Fauci of NIH, who is expected to testify remotely.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is more critical of the Administration, tweeting over the weekend, “It’s May 10th, and President Trump still doesn’t have an adequate national testing strategy.”

President Trump tweeted over the weekend “We are getting great marks for the handling of the CoronaVirus pandemic” especially compared that to the Obama administration handling of the H1N1 Swine Flu, and hit back against criticism from President Obama, who reportedly described the current President’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic as an “absolute chaotic disaster.”

Meet the Press and the Washington Post features focused on Senate election prospects. GOP races in Arizona (McSally), Colorado (Gardner), Maine (Collins), and North Carolina (Tillis) long seen as competitive are rated toss-ups by the Cook Political report, which also rates as “Lean R” competitive races with a Republican advantage seats in Georgia (Loeffler), Iowa (Ernst), Kansas (Open), and Montana (Daines). Democratic Senator Doug Jones (D-AL) is also in a tough race, which currently leans against him and toward Republicans. The fortunes of Republican candidates are seen as tied to President Trump’s handling of the pandemic and the degree of recovery prior to the election.

In today’s Wall Street Journal, the weekly “What’s Your Workout?” feature focuses on EY US Chair and Managing Partner and Americas Managing Partner Kelly Grier, saying in part: “Ms. Grier creates a mental to-do list for her runs. ‘It could include a decision I want to deliberate over, a letter I need to craft, a speech I need to write, a topic to discuss with my core stakeholders,’ she says. ‘It’s always a mix of personal and professional.’”

EY Alerts and other resources are here.

The global EY Tax COVID-19 Response Tracker updated through May 8.

EY Webcasts this week include, on Tuesday, May 12 (1:00 p.m. ET), “Tax in a disrupted market.” This webcast, the seventh in the series, will include topics such as cost reduction, legal entity rationalization, attribute utilization and tax supply chain considerations amidst the disruption caused by COVID-19. Our panelists will discuss tax considerations and attribute planning related to simplification of legal and operational structures to enhance liquidity. Register

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