Speaking on the floor of the U.S. Senate yesterday morning, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell made it clear coronavirus relief is needed.
He urged lawmakers to sign off on issues where there is agreement while the other disputed issues are being worked out.
“There are many important policies that have strong bipartisan support. There are many others that do not,” he said.
He also stated that “compromise is within reach.”
“We can do this, and we need to do this. So, let’s be about actually making a law,” he said.
McConnell has already expressed opposition to the $908 billion proposal that came from Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Susan Collins, R-Maine, and others.
While this bill did not contain stimulus checks it did contain:
- $288 billion in small business aid such as Paycheck Protection Program loans
- $160 billion in state and local government relief
- $180 billion to fund a $300 per week supplemental unemployment benefit through March.
- $16 billion into vaccine distribution, testing and contact tracing
- $82 billion into education
- $45 billion into transportation.
- It would also allocate funds for rental assistance, child care and broadband.
So it seems like McConnell is suggesting to pass some of these measures but table discussion on others that are being contested.
Even though McConnell refused to endorse the proposal, I still think there are major reasons to be optimistic right now — more than ever.
First, don’t forget that Republicans backed a $1 trillion bill introduced in the summer known as the Health, Economic Assistance, Liability Protection and Schools (HEALS) Act.
So this price range is not out of the realm of possibilities for them.
Also, the elections are for the most part over and that was something that was holding negotiations back a great deal I believe.
But the biggest reason I would be optimistic is that Democrats, including Pelosi, have agreed to change up their strategy and support sending out a more focused stimulus package.
Just a couple of months ago it would have been unheard of if Pelosi agreed to something like this.
But now it appears that top Democrats are on board with this approach.
“In the spirit of compromise we believe the bipartisan framework introduced by Senators yesterday should be used as the basis for immediate bipartisan, bicameral negotiations,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senator Chuck Schumer said.
Although the economy has shown great signs of recovery and the stock market has hit record highs, the amount of covid cases and deaths are soaring in the US.
This is putting a lot of pressure on lawmakers to get something done and I believe that pressure is what will move something over the finish line.
We might not see a package containing stimulus checks pass in 2020 but based on recent comments from lawmakers it does seem like they are serious about pushing out relief before the new year.
Also, based on comments from Democrats, Joe Biden, and even McConnell’s recent statement, it seems that lawmakers are structuring this bill so that they can pick up on the left out items later.
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Daniel Gillaspia is the Founder of UponArriving.com and the credit card app, WalletFlo. He is a former attorney turned travel expert covering destinations along with TSA, airline, and hotel policies. Since 2014, his content has been featured in publications such as National Geographic, Smithsonian Magazine, and CNBC. Read my bio.
