In an interview on CNBC Thursday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi blasted Republican leadership, claiming the GOP doesn’t give “a damn” about finding measures that both sides can agree to when it comes to the second COVID-19 stimulus package. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, meanwhile, has said that he wants to extend benefits, even if not all Republicans in leadership agree with him.
Pelosi Said the GOP Doesn’t Give ‘a Damn’ About Governance
Political leadership is still negotiating the COVID-19 relief bill, which could include a second round of stimulus checks. The House has introduced the HEROES act and the Senate has introduced the HEALS act. Although there are overlaps between the two, there are also significant differences. For example, The HEALS act includes the Continuing Small Business Recovery and Paycheck Protection Program Act, which would add another $190 billion into the PPP and let businesses request a second loan. Pelosi, meanwhile, wants to extend a $600-per-week supplemental unemployment benefit that has just lapsed, while Republicans want to extend it but cut it to $400 a week, ABC 13 reported.
On Thursday, while speaking with Squawk on the Street on CNBC, Pelosi was asked by host Jim Cramer if both sides could agree to ideas regarding giving money directly to Americans in need, The Hill reported.
Pelosi said:
Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn for what you just described… Yeah, that’s the problem. The thing is, they don’t believe in governance. They don’t believe in governance and that requires some acts of government to do that. But just what you described is what Mr. Schumer, Chuck Schumer, is proposing that we do with some of the resources in the bill. … You described Chuck Schumer’s proposal exactly. … In addition to the…HEROES act…If we’re talking about how much and how long, how targeted, if we’re going to juggle some of this money, let’s focus it where it’s going to do the most good. And basically, economists tell us, ‘Spend the money, invest the money, for those who need it the most because they will spend it, it will be a stimulus or at least a stabilization…
You can watch the moment where she said this in the video below.
Speaker Pelosi on why she thinks Republicans won’t provide more money to those struggling right now: “Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.”
While some GOP leaders have said that an additional trillion-dollar relief package would be irresponsible, McConnell doesn’t agree, The Hill reported. He said that he is advocating for another deal.
“I share the view of the chairman of the [Federal Reserve] and the secretary of the Treasury that we do need another boost,” he said. But, he added, he doesn’t believe that unemployment should pay someone more to stay home than to go back to work.
Sen. Ted Cruz has expressed a similar sentiment. In late July on Face the Nation, he said that 68% of people getting extra unemployment were being paid more to not work.
He said: “I’ve spoken to small business owners all over the state of Texas who are trying to reopen and they’re calling their- their waiters and waitresses … they’re calling their busboys, and they won’t come back. And, of course, they won’t come back because the federal government is paying them, in some instances, twice as much money to stay home.”
Mass Live reported that a study by Yale University suggested that generous unemployment did not deter Americans from returning to work. The study showed that Americans who received more benefits went back to work slightly faster than others or at the same rate.
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