WASHINGTON — The House prepared on Thursday to vote on a sweeping coronavirus relief package, pushing ahead with a measure to provide food security assistance, a substantial national paid sick leave program, free coronavirus testing and strengthened unemployment benefits for people affected by the spread of the pandemic and the resulting economic disruption.
But even as Democrats laid the groundwork for a vote on the Families First Coronavirus Response Act — which was hastily cobbled together and unveiled after 10 p.m. on Wednesday as the sense of urgency in the Capitol mounted — talks were still underway to try to bring the Trump administration on board.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi spoke twice by phone on Thursday morning with Steven Mnuchin, the treasury secretary, who is leading negotiations on the emergency aid measure, even as President Trump himself attacked her on Twitter for refusing to embrace the huge payroll tax cut he has proposed.
Representative Kevin McCarthy, Republican of California and the minority leader, on Thursday said in a tweet that the measure was “not only completely partisan,” but also “unworkable.”
The fast-moving developments left the fate of the aid package up in the air as the virus continued to rip through the United States, sickening more Americans and wreaking havoc on the financial markets. Should the White House and House Democrats come to terms, Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the majority leader, has indicated privately that he would quickly bring up the measure and pass it to allow Mr. Trump to sign it into law.
But it remained unclear if that could happen before Congress departs Washington on Thursday for a scheduled one-week recess. Some lawmakers were already calling for the break to be postponed in light of the coronavirus crisis, while others, increasingly anxious about the health risks, said it was past time for lawmakers to leave the Capitol.
In the absence of a detailed plan from the White House, Ms. Pelosi has pressed forward with a package of her own that leading Republicans have panned as ineffective and too costly.
The Democratic bill includes $500 million to provide assistance to low-income pregnant women and some mothers who are laid off because of the outbreak; $400 million to assist food banks; food assistance flexibility for low-income workers and children who rely on free and reduced school lunch programs and $250 million to deliver packaged meals to low-income seniors.
It also establishes up to three months of emergency paid leave benefits to all workers affected by the coronavirus, as well as an extension of eligibility for unemployment insurance.
“More support is needed to address the impacts on American families,” said Representative Nita M. Lowey, Democrat of New York and chairwoman of the House Appropriations Committee, one of the architects of the package. “This bill will help ensure the physical safety and financial security of our nation’s working families during this time of crisis.”
Even as Mr. Trump assailed Ms. Pelosi, some Republican lawmakers groused about how little input they had in the 124-page package, the speaker and Mr. Mnuchin were privately discussing what a spokesman described as “language recommendations from the administration.”
Mr. Trump appeared to endorse some of the ideas put forward by Democrats in a prime time address to the nation Wednesday evening, calling on Congress to provide emergency help for those who must stay home because they are quarantined, ill or caring for others, and asked for funds to provide low-interest loans that would help small businesses. But the White House provided no details about how he proposed to do so.
With some lawmakers self-quarantining after coming into contact with a person who tested positive at a political conference and an aide to Senator Maria Cantwell, Democrat of Washington state, testing positive for the virus, at least two congressional offices on Capitol Hill were closed.
The House and Senate Sergeants at Arms announced on Thursday that all tours would be canceled and access to the Capitol would be limited to lawmakers, staff members, journalists and official business visitors until April 1.