‘Don’t create controversy where there isn’t controversy…’
(Claire Russel, Liberty Headlines) Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., defended the GOP’s decision to fast-track its stimulus proposal without consulting Senate Democrats.
“The Republicans are in the majority in the Senate,” McConnell told CNN.
“We wanted to put forward our proposal,” he continued. “We feel like we have an obligation to do that as a majority—and the Democrats, of course, need to be given an opportunity to react to it, and that all begins tomorrow. So don’t create controversy where there isn’t controversy.”
The stimulus proposal introduced by Senate Republicans would inject close to $1 trillion into the economy. The bill includes $200 billion in loans to hurting industries such as the airlines, $300 billion in forgivable loans for small businesses, and direct monetary payments to Americans under a certain income.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-NY, said the threshold stipulation for direct monetary payments to Americans will need to be reworked.
“We are beginning to review Senator McConnell’s proposal and on first reading, it is not at all pro-worker and instead puts corporations way ahead of workers,” they claimed in a statement.
McConnell admitted that the coronavirus pandemic and the response it requires from the federal government is unprecedented.
“This is a totally new experience. So there isn’t a precedent you can look to, but we’re moving as rapidly as we can to try to deal with all these shortcomings and to—to get help to the American people,” he said.
“That’s why we’re here, and we’re trying to operate on a bipartisan basis to do that,” he added. “And I think we’ll succeed.”
Senate Democrats have produced their own $750 billion proposal, which includes $400 billion to shore up hospitals and other emergency operations in response to the global pandemic and $350 billion to bolster the safety net with unemployment checks and other aid to Americans.