Senate to vote on another ‘skinny’ stimulus bill next week. Here’s what’s in it
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said the Senate will vote on another coronavirus relief bill after lawmakers have struggled for months to pass a follow-up to the CARES Act.
McConnell, a Republican, said the plan will give “roughly $500 billion” in aid, including money for schools and health care, unemployment benefits, and funding for the Paycheck Protection Program, according to Roll Call. The proposal will also have protections for businesses, health care providers and schools from coronavirus-related lawsuits — but it has little chance of passing the Democratic-controlled U.S. House of Representatives and becoming law.
McConnell said the plan will have “another round of checks for those who have been hit the hardest,” but didn’t give specifics on income requirements, according to Roll Call.
“When the full Senate returns on October 19th, our first order of business will be voting again on targeted relief for American workers, including new funding for the PPP,” McConnell said in a statement, according to The Hill.
McConnell added that the bill will be “highly targeted” with “a significant amount of money,” the publication reported.
“I’m going to try next week one more time... I want to give our friends on the other side one more chance,” he said.
President Donald Trump has suggested he wants an even bigger stimulus package, tweeting on Tuesday: “STIMULUS! Go big or go home!!!”
The White House offered a $1.8 trillion proposal over the weekend that includes another round of $1,200 stimulus checks and a $400 weekly boost to unemployment benefits, according to NBC News.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, called the $1.8 trillion plan “insufficient” while Senate Republicans also panned the proposal for costing too much.
Democrats and Republicans have struggled to agree on a follow-up relief package to the CARES Act that went into law in March and provided most Americans with $1,200 payments during the coronavirus pandemic.
House Democrats passed another coronavirus relief bill earlier this month but had no chance of advancing it through the Republican-controlled Senate. The $2.2 trillion package, an updated version of the Heroes Act, would have provided another round of stimulus checks, funding for state and local governments, and weekly $600 unemployment benefits.
Pelosi slammed CNN host Wolf Blitzer in an interview Tuesday when he pressed on why she wouldn’t accept the White House’s offer.
“What makes me amused, if it weren’t so sad, is how you all think that you know more about the suffering of the American people than those of us who are elected by them to represent them at that table,” Pelosi said.
