WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) ─ Senate Democrats are calling upon Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to negotiate a bipartisan COVID-19 relief bill, arguing that it remains at a standstill because he is calling for trimmed-down and targeted relief.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York, maintains that a comprehensive COVID-19 relief bill is needed to address the ongoing pandemic.
“We are looking for a comprehensive bill that meets the needs of America,” Schumer said. “The pressure is on Republicans to deliver. Leader McConnell, and all of my Republican colleagues, will have an opportunity to show the American people that they’re ready to get to work.”
McConnell, R-Kentucky, argues that the relief must be highly targeted, saying it should be “very similar to what I put on the floor both in October and September.”
“It seems to me that snag that hung us up for months is still there,” he said, maintaining that a multi-trillion-dollar COVID-19 relief package won’t make it through the Senate.
The back and forth among lawmakers comes soon after the country reported a record-breaking number of new COVID-19 cases.
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-New York, said the need for relief is urgent.
“We have massive increases of COVID cases across the whole country,” she said.
She said states need money and Americans need unemployment, rental and food assistance.
“We really need relief now and I think for Mitch McConnell to play politics with people’s lives it’s just a shame,” she said.
