Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said the next coronavirus aid package will be written in the Senate and negotiated with the White House, ignoring a $3 trillion measure House Democrats passed this month.
The Kentucky Republican told reporters at a press conference in Edgewood, Kentucky, that he won’t consider the House-passed measure, which provides $1 trillion to state and local governments, “hazard pay” for some workers, as well as a pension and Postal Service bailout, among many other spending items.
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Congress has passed four coronavirus spending measures that have added $2.8 trillion to the debt. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, told Democratic senators on Friday he would attempt to force the Senate to consider the House-passed bill next week.
Republicans, who control the majority, will block the move, however.
“That’s not a serious effort to deal with where we are,” McConnell said. “It would, in effect, double the impact on the national debt from what we’ve already done over the last couple of months.”
McConnell said the next measure the Senate will negotiate would be “narrowly tailored” and include “narrowly crafted liability protections” for businesses, healthcare facilities and professionals, and universities. It may also include “additional assistance” for small businesses, healthcare, and the unemployed, he said.
McConnell said if a new economic aid bill is drafted, it will not include an extension of the $600 in additional unemployment benefits that were signed into law on March 28 and expire in July. “We will not be paying people a bonus for staying home in another bill,” he said.
McConnell characterized the next spending measure as “a fourth and final bill” to provide federal aid in response to the coronavirus. He said a decision would be made about whether to take up the measure in “about a month.”
More money for states and local governments “is possible and certainly worth considering,” he said, but he added that the federal government has already allocated $150 billion in federal aid to the states.
McConnell urged the reopening of schools and universities, warning “the country is simply going to go nuts” if they remain closed. McConnell said the coronavirus appears far less dangerous for young people.
He also said schools will likely employ masks and social distancing, as well as holding classes in shifts.
“The two most important things for getting back to normal are jobs and kids,” McConnell said. “We’ve got to have these K through 12 schools open. We’ve got to have colleges open this fall.”
