The Senate will vote on a “targeted” coronavirus-related federal aid package next week, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced in a statement criticizing Democrats for refusing to cut a funding deal after weeks of negotiations.
There is no bipartisan deal, which means the measure is likely to face a filibuster by Senate Democrats, who want to vote on a much broader aid package worth at least $2 trillion.
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McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, said Tuesday the GOP measure lawmakers will vote on is aimed at replenishing and extending a loan program for small businesses that was put in place earlier this year to keep jobs from disappearing due to coronavirus lockdowns.
It will likely include another round of stimulus checks, too.
“Democrats have spent months blocking policies they do not even oppose,” McConnell said in the statement. “They say anything short of their multitrillion-dollar wish list, jammed with non-COVID-related demands, is piecemeal and not worth doing. Speaker Pelosi frequently says she feels nothing is better than something. And she has worked hard to ensure that nothing is what American families get.”
Speaker Nancy Pelosi last week announced she opposes a new White House offer to provide $1.8 trillion in aid, which is a figure far above what most congressional Republicans would support. The California Democrat has asked for roughly $2.4 trillion in aid.
The impasse has prevented another round of federal funding from clearing Congress, despite the urging of President Trump and an agreement among lawmakers in both parties that new stimulus checks and other aid are needed.
McConnell said the measure senators will consider will include “targeted relief,” including the Paycheck Protection Program for small businesses.
Senate Republicans nearly unanimously voted in favor of a $500 billion coronavirus aid package on Sep. 10, but Democrats and one GOP lawmaker filibustered the bill.
The new attempt at passing an aid package will come ahead of likely consideration of Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett. Barrett this week is answering questions from lawmakers in the Senate Judiciary Committee, which will vote on Oct. 22 to advance her nomination to the floor.
McConnell said there is time to pass the aid measure before taking up Barrett’s nomination, likely ahead of the Nov. 3 election.
“Unless Democrats block this aid for workers, we will have time to pass it before we proceed as planned to the pending Supreme Court nomination as soon as it is reported by the Judiciary Committee,” McConnell said.
