A week after partisan bickering delayed passage of a $2.2 trillion economic relief package, Democrats and Republicans are at odds over whether additional federal aid is necessary.
House Democrats were primarily sidelined when the Senate negotiated the last relief package, and they are now eager to incorporate their proposals in a new massive relief measure.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, outlined a sweeping proposal last week that would address the nation’s crumbling infrastructure, housing problems, education inadequacies, food stamp shortfalls, struggling pensions, and unsafe working conditions, in addition to providing more individual aid and money to state and local governments.
Democrats maintain the three measures Congress passed last month, which total nearly $2.4 trillion, falls short of adequately addressing the economic impact and health consequences of the coronavirus.
Congress adjourned until at least April 20. Still, House Democrats are already writing a new bill they hope to have ready for a vote when lawmakers eventually return to the Capitol.
“It’s obvious what is necessary to be done,” Pelosi told reporters last week, describing the plans for a new federal aid package. “To ignore it is to ignore the fact that the coronavirus crisis is raging, that we can do something about it to rein it in. But it takes resources. It takes policy. It takes a tax code. It takes the willingness of the Congress of the United States working with the executive branch to understand that the earlier the investment, the better for the lives and the livelihood of the American people.”
Pelosi’s enthusiasm for a new relief package has been met with opposition from Republicans in the House and Senate who say they first want to implement fully the billions of dollars in federal aid Congress has already approved before determining what is needed next.
“I know the Speaker is trying to talk about a fourth bill,” House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, a California Republican, said last week. “I don’t think that’s appropriate at this time. We just passed the largest bill in history. We’ve got to make sure this is implemented correctly.”
Pelosi’s plans for a fourth relief package will undoubtedly come with an enormous price tag. The infrastructure component, for example, is based on a $760 billion measure Democrats introduced in January and would add to that an additional $10 billion to build more community healthcare centers.
Pelosi also wants the plan to include money to expand broadband access and funding to rebuild the nation’s aging water infrastructure.
Pelosi said she is hoping to find bipartisan support for the measure she is drafting and plans to talk about it with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican.
McConnell controls the Senate floor, and without his backing, Pelosi’s measure will simply die in the House.
McConnell last week sounded unenthusiastic.
“I think first, we need to see what the effect of the current bill is,” McConnell said on Hugh Hewitt’s radio show.
Republicans believe Pelosi is crafting a relief package that aims to advance parts of the Democratic agenda that have long stalled due to lack of bipartisan support.
For example, the infrastructure component Pelosi is hoping to advance includes green energy initiatives sought by Democrats, such as requirements for more high-speed rail and electric vehicles.
“I’m not going to allow this to be an opportunity for the Democrats to achieve unrelated policy items that they would not otherwise be able to pass,” McConnell told Hewitt.
Pelosi dismissed the GOP opposition, noting that President Trump recently tweeted about his eagerness to address infrastructure reform in a fourth economic relief package. Pelosi’s plan adds a few things to the list, she said.
“Infrastructure has rarely been a bipartisan discussion,” Pelosi said. “And who can begrudge bringing people clean water, internet access, community health centers, and the ability to go to work for essential workers in this very difficult time?”
