House Democratic leaders are hoping for a last-minute deal with Republicans on a coronavirus relief package before they scatter for election campaigning at the end of the week.
But if there is no deal this week, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer told reporters Wednesday, Democrats plan to vote on a measure that would provide $2.2 trillion in new federal coronavirus relief aid. While it would likely be rejected by Republicans and would go nowhere in the Senate, it would send a message to voters, particularly those in critical swing districts.
“What my members want to say is, ‘We’ve tried everything we can think of, and we’ve passed legislation, and we’ve compromised on that legislation,’” Hoyer said.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, will hold talks with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin this afternoon, and both sides are hoping it will yield a compromise on a new round of federal aid that can pass both chambers and win the approval of President Trump.
Democrats introduced a bill this week that scaled back their initial coronavirus aid package from $3 trillion to $2.2 trillion. They believe the new offer represents a significant compromise that Republicans should use as the basis for a bipartisan agreement.
“We made a very very substantial change, and we’ve given that to Secretary Mnuchin,” Hoyer, a Maryland Democrat, told reporters Wednesday. “We’re hoping that they can agree to that. If they’re going to come back, hopefully, they are going to come back today with an offer.”
Mnuchin said he’s open to new negotiations with Pelosi but has in the past rejected any legislation with a price tag of $2 trillion or more.
Senate Republicans, and notably Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who controls the Senate floor, said they won’t vote for a $2 trillion bill.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, a California Republican and staunch Trump ally, rejected the latest House measure as partisan and wasteful. It also cuts police funding, McCarthy said Wednesday, and contains a provision making it easier for banks to do business with marijuana shops.
“It talks about marijuana more than it talks about jobs,” McCarthy said. “The only deduction that they have is $600 million cut from the police force when the streets are less safe today than they were before.”
