Joe Biden sided with Senate Democrats for scuttling Republican plans to pass a more than $2 trillion coronavirus economic relief package for the House to consider Monday.
“It’s simple: President Trump and Mitch McConnell are trying to put corporate bailouts ahead of families. And it’s simply wrong,” Biden said in a statement late Sunday.
The 2020 Democratic presidential candidate described provisions for $500 billion in loans to industries hurt by the COVID-19 virus pandemic as a “slush fund,” “with almost no conditions,” without providing “sufficient, sustainable relief to workers.” He borrowed language from congressional Democrats who aren’t happy with the current deal with their GOP counterparts and the White House.
“The Trump Administration could even allow companies to use taxpayers’ money for stock buybacks and executive pay packages, and they don’t have to tell Americans where the money is going for months,” the two-term vice president said.
He added, “McConnell should immediately allow a bipartisan vote on aggressive measures to help small businesses, workers, and communities first, so the relief they need can get moving.”
Senate Democrats blocked the package in a procedural vote Sunday. The bill would have facilitated direct cash payments averaging about $3,000 per family and expanded unemployment insurance, as well as offer $350 billion in aid to struggling small businesses, among other stimulus initiatives.
McConnell has signaled he’ll bring up a procedural motion to reconsider the package Monday, while House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said her caucus was drafting their own bill in her chamber. The Democratic version is likely to build on the Senate framework, while also including protections for workers, partial student loan forgiveness, and “restraints” on how the Treasury Department can leverage liquidity to assist sectors hurt by the economic slowdown.
For Biden, 77, “struggling Americans” should be prioritized over “big corporations looking for a blank check.”
“That’s not only good economics. That’s who we are as Americans — we lend a hand to help each other, we step up when hard times fall. We all deserve leadership that does the same,” he said.
