Republicans And Democrats Are Trillions Apart On The Next Stimulus Bill
WASHINGTON ― As lawmakers prepare to begin negotiations on another coronavirus stimulus bill, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) indicated Thursday just how far apart Republicans and Democrats are on the cost of the legislation.
“$1 trillion doesn’t do it for us,” Pelosi told reporters. “But we can negotiate from there.”
Pelosi said the next bill ― which would be Congress’ fifth coronavirus response measure ― needed $1 trillion for state and local funding, $1 trillion for expanded unemployment benefits and direct payments, and “something like that, probably not as much” for COVID-19 testing, contact tracing and treatment.
A roughly $3 trillion bill is far from the price tag that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is looking at. A senior GOP aide said Senate Republicans are pushing for $1 trillion overall, and McConnell himself has said the Senate won’t come close to the $3 trillion amount that the Democratic House passed in May.
“It won’t be a $3 trillion left-wing wishlist,” McConnell said at the end of May.
That Democratic bill would extend the extra $600 in unemployment benefits for the rest of the year ― currently, that extra money expires at the end of July ― and it would send out another round of stimulus checks to most Americans, in addition to approving $13 an hour in hazard pay for certain workers, paid sick leave, and $1 trillion for struggling state and local governments.
All of those items would help the economy. But Republicans seem increasingly intent on holding the line on spending, despite an unemployment rate above 11% and coronavirus cases spiking. And McConnell has said his top priority is tamping down a supposed “epidemic of lawsuits” that will result from people getting sick as economic activity picks up.
Part of the issue is that two consecutive jobs reports have beaten Wall Street’s expectations, with the economy adding back 2.5 million jobs in May and 4.8 million jobs in...
