Hogan Weighs in on Hill Funding Fight in Meeting With Bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus
Staying on brand, Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr. (R) met Thursday with members of the bipartisan congressional Problem Solvers Caucus, An America United, his political action committee announced.
During the virtual meeting, the governor praised the $1.5 trillion COVID-19 relief package that the caucus of Republican and Democratic moderates is proposing. House Democrats are currently seeking a $2.3 trillion spending package, while the Trump administration is proposing $1.3 trillion in emergency spending ― and the House and Senate Republican caucuses are even lower than that.
“I’m grateful for the caucus’s efforts to reach a bipartisan compromise on much-needed COVID-19 relief,” Hogan said in a statement ahead of the meeting. “In particular, I want to thank them for including $500 billion of critical aid for state and local governments.”
The governor, who frequently calls for bipartisan action at the national level, urged congressional lawmakers to move swiftly on an emergency spending plan.
“The American people can’t afford for Congress to punt this issue until after the election,” Hogan said. “It’s time for the rest of Congress to follow the lead of the Problem Solvers Caucus, put politics aside, and pass a real and meaningful agreement.”
According to Hogan’s PAC, the governor’s meeting Thursday included seven U.S. senators ― three Republicans, three Democrats and one Independent who caucuses with the Democrats ― and 11 Republicans and 17 Democrats on the House side.
Josh Kurtz
Founding editor
Founding Editor Josh Kurtz is a veteran chronicler of Maryland politics and government. He began covering the State House in 1995 for The Gazette newspapers, and has been writing about state and local politics ever since. He was an editor at Roll Call, the Capitol Hill newspaper, for eight years, and for eight years was the editor of E&E Daily, which covers energy and environmental policy on Capitol Hill. For 6 1/2 years Kurtz wrote a weekly column on state politics for Center Maryland and has written for several other Maryland publications as well. Kurtz regularly gives speeches and appears on TV and radio shows to discuss Maryland politics.
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