The Republican governor of New Hampshire is furious at both sides in Congress for not getting a stimulus package passed before the presidential election, and he let them have it in an appearance on CNBC.
The comments by Chris Sununu came as Congress remained gridlocked over the cost of a second stimulus relief plan that would likely do everything from sending a second round of stimulus checks to Americans to giving relief to struggling small businesses.
Yet, both sides can’t reach agreement on the amount, and they’ve both traded blame in constant statements to the news media. That was enough for Sununu, who thinks the American people are the victims of it all.
Here’s what you need to know:
Fire Them All, Sununu Says
Governor\’s officeChris Sununu.
“Fire them all. I really mean that sincerely,” Gov. Chris Sununu said on CNBC’s Squawk Box. “No one in the Senate or Congress can say that they’ve shown leadership on the Covid crisis. What have they done since March? Like literally nothing.”
He suggested that Congress was useless.
“Put it this way: Would the country be better or worse off if you replaced all 535 today?” Sununu said to the network, referring to the House and Senate seats. “I think the odds say we’d probably be a little better because you get the political nonsense out of the picture, all of the things that have just clogged the system up so badly.”
Meanwhile, Democrats & Republicans Traded Blame
GettySenate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
While Sununu blamed Congress, Democrats and Republicans in Congress have blamed each other. Members of President Trump’s administration, and the president himself, have blamed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Senate Democrats released a statement saying,
Today, Senate Republicans reaffirmed what so many Americans know: they would rather jam through another extreme right-wing nominee to the Supreme Court in an unprecedented, rushed fashion just days from a presidential election than address the real and dire needs of everyday Americans amid the coronavirus pandemic. Today, Senate Democrats came to the floor to demand the Senate consider twenty-five bills: the updated Heroes Act coronavirus relief legislation, protections for people with pre-existing conditions, support for our nation’s veterans and more. Senate Republicans objected to every one of them.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell adjourned the Senate after the vote confirming Amy Coney Barrett to the U.S. Supreme Court, making it virtually impossible for a stimulus plan to pass before the election on November 3.
In an interview with WCHS-TV, McConnell explained Republican opposition to the Democrats’ $2.2 trillion stimulus plan.
“Senate Republicans don’t think a $2 trillion bill that has health care for illegal immigrants, more money for Puerto Rico than Kentucky and tax cuts for rich people in New York,” McConnell said to the television station. “We don’t think that is a great idea, but if the president can reach an agreement with the Democrats who are in the majority in the House, I certainly will put it on the floor of the Senate. We’ll take it up.”
Trump and his Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin have placed the blame on Pelosi, with Trump saying he thinks she doesn’t want a deal before the election.
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