More economic bailouts could come
WASHINGTON – Now that Congress passed the largest rescue package in American history to address the coronavirus pandemic, is there more to come?
That depends on whom you ask. “We know that this cannot be our final bill,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said on the House floor Friday, shortly before lawmakers approved the $2.2 trillion package.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had a different take.
“We’ll have to wait and see what happens,” the Kentucky Republican told Fox News.
Both chambers are scheduled to be out for the first half of April. But that’s not an impediment. McConnell said he will call senators back if needed.
The potential impasse is that Democrats already have a list of additional issues they say need to be addressed, while Republicans want to first see the effects of the three packages already approved, particularly the latest, massive bill President Donald Trump signed Friday.
“I would hope anybody that’s talking about a phase four would pause right now. We have just passed three bills,” House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., told Fox News.
The latest stimulus package will provide $1,200 checks to many Americans – and more for families – while making available hundreds of billions of dollars for companies to maintain payroll through the crisis. It significantly expands the nation’s unemployment safety net and directs cash to states and to hospitals and other medical facilities.
Pelosi said the package has omissions that must be rectified, and that more needs will arise in the coming weeks. Those include:
❚ Expanding which workers qualify for unpaid, job-protected leave to care for themselves or a family member under the Family and Medical Leave Act.
❚ Stronger safety protections for health care workers.
❚ Free health care services for coronavirus patients.
❚ Increased food-stamp benefits. ❚ Pension protections.
❚ More funding for state and local governments.
❚ More funding for hospitals and health centers. Pelosi also pointed out that the House’s initial version of the rescue package had bigger stimulus checks for individuals than were in the final bill.
“I don’t think we’ve seen the end of direct payments,” she said.
Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo criticized the package as falling far short of what his hard-hit state needs.
“It would really be terrible for the state of New York,” Cuomo said before passage. “This doesn’t do it.”
Pelosi said more help will come as Congress moves from addressing emergency needs to a “recovery phase.”
Some Democrats want to increase the amount of election funding states would receive, along with a requirement that they allow citizens to vote by mail or through another remote method this fall.
“Voters shouldn’t have to choose between their health & their right to vote,” tweeted Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, whose husband is recovering from COVID-19.
Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., said it’s wrong that many workers still won’t qualify for paid sick leave or paid family leave.
“It’s about supporting people who are being required to stay home,” she said. “We have to keep pushing on this.”
Pelosi said House committees will continue to work, often remotely, on outstanding issues.