Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi recently tookfire for flip-flopping on her coronavirus stimulus package stance.
As per One America News Network, discussions on the COVID-19 relief package for Americans have been taking months now due to disagreements in the budget. Pelosi was said to have given a floor amount of $2.2. trillion.
Pelosi rejected President Donald Trump's counter offer of only $1.8 because it was below the floor amount. Now, months after that, Pelosi has agreed to work at an even lower coronavirus stimulus package amounting to only $908 billion, reaping flak from lawmakers who believe that the original rejection done prior elections was political in nature that is it will be in favor of Trump's winning, says One America News Network.
Trump's offer of $1.8 trillion for the relief package was said to include the American people receiving a $1,200 check for the second time.
On the other hand, market watch reported that negotiations were put on hold because the Trump proposal was less than $300 per week that was supposedly a benefit for unemployment. The total package would actually be worth $916 billion, which includes a $600 direct deposit to a majority of Americans.
The offer was made by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin in behalf of Trump to Pelosi, which the later declined because a bipartisan package is underwayconsisting of $908 billion that includes a $300 per week benefit for the unemployed and a $160 billion funding for the state and local government.
MarketWatch, on the other hand, explained in their report that the bipartisan group is led by West Virginia Democratic Senator Joe Manchin, Maine Republican Senator Susan Collins, and Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski. The said lawmakers have agreed on the $908 billion framework since they are focusing on providing coronavirus relief packages to families and other individuals who are really encountering difficulties.
Collins was quoted to saying, "Right now we're targeting struggling families, failing businesses, health care workers, and we don't have a stimulus check to every single person, regardless of need."
The move to focus solely on these group of people caused complaints on the side of the Democrats against McConnell since the aid to state and local governments was a primary provision, MarketWatch said.
Clarifications on this issue was actually tweeted by Pelosi late Tuesday.
"While it is in progress that Leader McConnell has signed off on a $916 billion offer based on the bipartisan framework, the President's proposal, which cuts unemployment insurance by $140 billion compared to the framework, is unacceptable," Pelosi said.
"The President's proposal must not be allowed to obstruct the bipartisan Congressional talks that are underway. The bipartisan talks are the best hope for a bipartisan solution," she added in a separate tweet containing a link to her full statement on the issue.
Her full statement is actually a press release posted in her website as Speaker of the House. The statement is a joint undertaking with Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer of New York. It echoes what she actually tweeted in her personal account.
