Bipartisan Senate group pushes $908 billion COVID-19 relief bill
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A bipartisan group of centrist lawmakers — including Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.V.), Mark Warner (D-Va.), Bill Cassidy (R-La.), Mitt Romney (R-Utah), Lisa Murkowski (R-Ala.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) — are pushing a $908 billion stimulus plan that would provide more pandemic relief to Americans.
The price tag is similar to the shot-down $1 trillion package put forth by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) in July but the new framework, Romney said in a Tuesday press conference, would repurpose funds from the CARES Act, meaning that less than half the total figure is new money.
Sen. Mitt Romney on COVID relief negotiations: "I happen to be a deficit hawk. I don't like borrowing money. I don't like spending money we don't have. But the time to borrow money — maybe the only time to borrow money — is when there's a crisis. And this is a crisis." pic.twitter.com/HFq0IJT2Ss
— CBS News (@CBSNews) December 1, 2020
.@MittRomney on bipartisan Covid relief proposal:
“I happened to be a deficit hawk, I don’t like borrowing money,” he said, but added he supports this because $560B dollars is money repurposed from the CARES Act so new money is actually $348B dollars.
— Daniella Diaz (@DaniellaMicaela) December 1, 2020
The proposal doesn't include another round of stimulus checks, but it does offer $300 weekly unemployment benefits and earmarks $160 billion in aid for state, local, and tribal governments, another sticking point in talks.
It remains to be seen whether McConnell will bring the bill to the floor, or if Democratic leadership will be open to the smaller plan.
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