Part of both Pelosi’s and McCarthy’s stances is member management. For Pelosi, she wants to assure her caucus that there will be more chances to include Democratic priorities that didn’t make it into the first three bills. And for McCarthy, he needs to calm jittery conservative hard-liners who are wary of big government spending and might have objections to allowing the Senate package to pass by voice vote.
McConnell, meanwhile, has been noncommittal about their next legislative steps, instead focusing his energy on getting the $2 trillion economic rescue package over the finish line first.
“The real problem here is it’s on the health side and we’re all hoping that we’re going to begin to bend the curve here in the next few weeks. So I don’t have an announcement to make about the future yet,” McConnell said in an interview with POLITICO on Wednesday. “We’re hoping and praying that we’re going to begin to get a handle on this pandemic.”
The massive relief package expected to clear the House Friday is the third in a wave of bills Congress has quickly mobilized to pass as the coronavirus spreads across the U.S., infecting thousands and shutting down massive sectors of the economy.
Congress passed a bill with $8.3 billion in emergency funding in early March and the Senate followed that by clearing the House’s “Phase 2” bill last week, which greatly expanded federal safety programs to address the virus.
Democrats and some Republicans have said a fourth piece of legislation — and maybe more — is needed to ensure the U.S. doesn’t enter into a full-blown depression. Just on Thursday, unemployment claims reached a record high, skyrocketing to 3.3 million according to the Labor Department.
“In this case, it’s about public sentiment. People say, ‘Oh, why do we need another bill?’” Pelosi said. “These are needs that people have. … this is all about the coronavirus. It’s not about anything else.”
Marianne LeVine contributed to this report.
Source Article from https://www.politico.com/news/2020/03/26/congress-coronavirus-relief-package-150338
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