Emerging from the 2020 election into a United States devastated by rising coronavirus cases, congressional leaders appear as divided as ever on what a relief package will require.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said her party’s likely loss of six seats or more on Election Day does not change her view that the country needs at least $2.2 trillion in federal aid. She cited the new U.S. infection record of more than 140,000 hit on Wednesday.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, though, said he still supports a roughly $500 billion bill. The Kentucky Republican rejected a “dramatically larger” plan that Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., support.
Republicans have cited a gradually improving economy in calling for more narrow legislation. But the surge in Covid-19 cases raises the prospect of fresh economic damage at a time when more than 20 million Americans are still receiving some form of unemployment assistance.
President Donald Trump also may not have an appetite to pass relief legislation before President-elect Joe Biden takes office on Jan. 20. Democrats will hold the House in the next Congress, according to NBC News, while control of the Senate will come down to two likely runoffs in Georgia in January.
Reference: CNBC
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