Pelosi announces House Democrats' new $2.2T proposal for COVID-19 aid

In an attempt to boost long-stalled talks on COVID-19 relief, the US House of Representative Speaker Nancy Pelosi, on September 28, said that Democratic lawmakers unveiled a new $2.2 trillion aid measure. The latest bill proposed will be comprising a measure that reduces the costs of economic aid. In a letter to Democratic lawmakers, Pelosi said that the new legislation includes new funding needed to avert catastrophe for schools, small businesses, restaurants, performance spaces, airline workers and others. 

The recent proposal represents a cutback from a $3.4 billion bill that passed the House back in May, but it also remains well above what Senate Republicans are willing to accept. While speaking to MSNBC, Pelosi said that she has come down $1 trillion, and now the Republicans need to come up to crush the virus. 

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In a letter to her colleagues, Pelosi said, "Democrats are making good on our promise to compromise with this updated bill, which is necessary to address the immediate health and economic crisis facing America’s working families right now”. 

She added, “We have been able to make critical additions and reduce the cost of the bill by shortening the time covered for now”. 

Ongoing talks over stimulus bill 

In recent days, Pelosi has said that she thinks a deal can be reached with the White House as talks were continuing. Since early August, Pelosi, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, Mnuchin and White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows have been trying to break down a deal, however, the two sides have been far apart. With newly proposed bill, Pelosi’s office has said that she is considering putting the measure up for a floor vote if talks this week with the Trump administration prove fruitless. Any legislation the Democratic House might approve would be unlikely to advance in the Senate as it is controlled by the Republicans. 

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Pelosi and Schemer had originally sought a $3.4 trillion COVID-19 aid bill but they later scaled their demands. Last month, Meadows had said that Trump would be willing to sign a $1.3 trillion bill, however, the Democrats said that the sum was ‘not enough’ to meet the needs of the American people. 

Pelosi said that among other things, the Republicans are rejecting the funding needed for testing and tracing to crush the virus and safely reopen schools and the economy. She added that she hoped that Republicans would accept the offer and resume negotiations. On the other hand, Trump had previously said that Pelosi wants to give no stimulus and all she wants is a bailout for ‘badly run’ Democrat states. He added that another stimulus package would be ‘good’. 

(Inputs & Image: AP) 

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