The vote on the roughly half-trillion dollar package comes after more than two weeks of tense negotiations between Pelosi, GOP leaders and the White House, led by Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin. What began as a GOP demand for an additional $250 billion to replenish Congress’s small business aid program has turned into a far larger package.
The deal struck between the two parties includes about $380 billion total in additional funding for small businesses, as well as huge sums for hospitals and disease testing — both of which had been pushed by Democrats.
Notably, the package does not include any relief for local governments, another one of the Democrats’ biggest demands. Many cities and towns across the country have seen huge shares of their revenue — payroll and income taxes — dry up amid the national economic lockdown.
Democrats have said they will immediately pivot to the next package, which they say must include another round of relief for state and local governments.
“For anyone who thinks this is the last train out of the station, that is not close to the case,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said at a press conference with Pelosi this week.
Republican leaders, however, have said they are uninterested in quick action on another package. And Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has said he won’t move any additional relief packages without his chamber in session to fully legislate. Both the House and Senate are due to return May 4.
“We’ve allocated $2.8 trillion in the last month or so to fight this pandemic. That adds an awful lot of money to the national debt,” McConnell said Thursday on Kentucky radio station WYGE.
“So what I’ve said is we need to push the pause button here and remember the only ultimate way out of this is for the economy to slowly begin to open back up,” he said.
The House is also expected to pass legislation Thursday establishing a select coronavirus oversight committee, which will be led by House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.). The vote comes after Pelosi abruptly scrapped her plans Wednesday to push through a House rules change to permit proxy voting during the pandemic.
Instead, Pelosi said, she and other top Democrats will work with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) to come up with a bipartisan plan for how Congress will function in the coming months.
The bipartisan task force, led by McCarthy and Hoyer, is expected to meet Thursday afternoon.
Pelosi said she hopes to have agreement on a remote voting plan by then although Republicans in both chambers are pushing to have Congress resume its regular in-person schedule.
Burgess Everett contributed to this report.
Source: politico.com
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