House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is advising airlines to wait a little longer to furlough employees after revealing relief is coming their way in the near future.
“The massive furloughs and firings of America’s airline workers jeopardize the livelihoods of tens of thousands and threaten to accelerate the devastating economic crisis facing our nation. Today, I am calling upon the airlines to delay their devastating job cuts as relief for airline workers is being advanced in Congress,” Pelosi said in a statement.
She added, “We will either enact Chairman DeFazio’s bipartisan stand-alone legislation or achieve this as part of a comprehensive negotiated relief bill, extending for another six months the Payroll Support Program. This initiative is focused solely on the workers, keeping them on the payroll so these workers maintain their critical training and certification requirements unique to their industry.”
Pelosi reiterated, “As relief for airline workers is being advanced, the airline industry must delay these devastating job cuts.”
Her statement comes just one day after the House passed a $2.2 trillion coronavirus relief bill.
The bill is unlikely to move through the Republican-led Senate as Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin remained far from an agreement on critical areas of the relief package, as IJR previously reported.
Pelosi and Mnuchin could not agree on aid to state and local governments, demands by Democrats for a child tax credit and stronger worker safety protections, healthcare provisions, and assistance for small businesses.
White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said the proposal put forth by Democrats is “not a serious offer.”
Pelosi told Bloomberg TV the White House proposal “isn’t half a loaf. What they’re offering is the heel of the loaf.”
According to White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, the Trump administration has proposed a $20 billion extension in aid for the airline industry.