Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Speaker Pelosi released a joint statement Monday morning demanding that Republicans stop “political posturing” on COVID-19 small business relief legislation, after the pair of Democratic leaders successfully blocked additional funding for the bipartisan Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) last week:
Pelosi and Schumer on Democrats' priorities for 4th COVID-19 relief bill: "While the Trump Administration struggles to figure out how to distribute the funds provided for in the CARES Act, it’s clear those appropriated amounts will not be enough to cover the tremendous need." pic.twitter.com/NCirD2mxOg
— Craig Caplan (@CraigCaplan) April 13, 2020
Pelosi/Schumer: We have real problems facing this country, and it’s time for the Republicans to quit the political posturing by proposing bills they know will not pass either chamber and get serious and work with us towards a solution.
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) April 13, 2020
The delay of additional funding, as the original funding runs out as small businesses begin to see relief, is at the hands of Sen. Schumer and Speaker Pelosi, who torpedoed the bill when their list of unrelated demands were not met. Republicans, led by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), proposed a clean bill to add $250 billion more funding to PPP last Thursday, but Democrats blocked it.
Leader McConnell and House GOP Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) continue to advocate for clean legislation to give $250 billion in additional funding to PPP, and to keep small business relief legislation separate from phases of the CARES Act, which delivers relief checks directly to Americans:
McConnell and McCarthy said this weekend that there should just be another $250B for small business. And the rest should wait until the next larger package, they said. So the two sides are very far apart on what is needed now
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) April 13, 2020
An economic crisis of this stature is no time for partisan grandstanding, but Democratic leadership on Capitol Hill continues to use a global health pandemic to score political points and make ideological gains.
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