Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) is predicting Republicans will be willing to negotiate with Democrats on the next coronavirus relief bill once they realize Democrats will not give in to their demands.
John Berman, the host of CNN’s “New Day,” asked Schumer if he thinks “there will be any bill at all” that will pass.
“Yes, there’s a good chance that they will feel the pressure. Once they see the Democrats are not going to fold to this emaciated bill, which leaves so much out, the pressure will mount on them,” Schumer said.
He added, “Just look at the last three bills. In all three, you had the same scenario. McConnell said, ‘Democrats do this, or they’ll be nothing.’ We didn’t go along with a very weak bill that doesn’t meet the needs of the American people, and they came around. There’s a good chance they will again.”
Watch his comments below:
“There’s so much missing in the bill. I wouldn’t call it skinny. Their old bill, which was about a trillion dollars, was skinny. This one’s emaciated,” @SenSchumer says about the GOP’s trimmed-down stimulus bill.https://t.co/7ihk02yMtX pic.twitter.com/6fzrVgjaEh
— CNN This Morning with Kasie Hunt (@CNNThisMorning) September 9, 2020
Berman noted there will most likely be a vote on the bill on Thursday.
The bill includes an extension on small business loans, an extension of unemployment benefits to $300 a week, $10 billion to forgive a loan to the Postal Service, a tax credit for private and at-home education, and liability protections for employers in lawsuits related to the coronavirus.
The proposal does not offer any aid to states.
Berman asked Schumer what is missing from the bill.
“There’s so much missing in the bill. I wouldn’t call it skinny, they’re old bill which was about a trillion dollars was skinny. This one’s emaciated, it’s about half that,” Schumer said.
He stressed the Democrats’ bill meets the needs of the American people.
Schumer said it is a “cynical act” by McConnell because “he knows it won’t pass.”
He claimed their bill does more for unemployment benefits.
“If you ever want to guess what McConnell’s intentions are, he put poison pills in this bill that he knows Democrats will never go for,” Schumer said.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Sunday House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). is not willing to negotiate unless Republicans “agree to something like a $2.5 trillion deal in advance.”
