Mitch McConnell Says Next Stimulus Bill Is the Last, and Taxpayers Are Weighing In

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has made it clear that whenever the Senate finally passes [...]

By Daniel S. Levine

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has made it clear that whenever the Senate finally passes another stimulus package to help Americans during the coronavirus pandemic, it will look very different from the HEROES Act passed by House Democrats in May. On Friday, the Kentucky Republican said the fourth bill will likely be the final package and said it will be "narrowly" crafted. Taxpayers had plenty to say about McConnell's comments.

"We're taking a careful look at a fourth and final bill," McConnell said Friday in Kentucky, reports CNBC. He remained noncommittal to even passing one though, telling reporters in his home state that a decision on the Senate going forward with one could come in a month. And it will be narrowly crafted, designed to help us where we are a month from now, not where we were three months ago," he explained.

Congress has not been able to reach an agreement on another coronavirus stimulus package, and talks were put on hold for a week due to the Senate's Memorial Day break. House Democrats did pass the $3 trillion HEROES Act last month, but it was instantly rejected by Senate Republicans. McConnell has said he would rather wait to see how the CARES Act's relief plays out and reopening businesses helps lift the economy.

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McConnell also wants Senate Republicans to take the lead on crafting the next coronavirus stimulus bill, with input from the White House. "If there's another bill, and there may well be, it will be written in the Senate. It will be supported by the administration," he told Kentucky reporters Friday, reports The Hill. "It will not be $3 trillion. So we'll be discussing the issue of how much and the issue of when."

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Part of the House Democrats' bill included a second stimulus payment of at least $1,200 to American taxpayers. On Thursday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi expressed her frustration with McConnell's slow approach to another package. "With all of this, with all these deaths, and the need for us to pass so that as law more specific prescribed direction to the administration, who should have done this on their own, Mitch McConnell says no, we need a pause," Pelosi said in response to McConnell's May 25 comments about a "pause" on stimulus packages. "We need a pause? Tell that to the virus. Is the virus taking a pause? Is hunger in America taking a pause?"

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There are now 1.8 million confirmed coronavirus cases in the U.S., according to Johns Hopkins University. The death toll passed 100,000 last week, and only 16.9 million Americans have been tested. In April, the Department of Labor said the unemployment rate is 14.7%. Before another official update is published, economists polled by MarketWatch estimated the unemployment rate at 19% for May.

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