House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer rejected a $916 billion stimulus bill proposed by the White House. Brought forth by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Capitol Hill late Tuesday, the two senior Democrats, who have been key figures in stimulus negotiations for months now, blasted the Trump-backed package as “unacceptable.”
In a joint statement Tuesday night, Pelosi and Schumer acknowledged that the bill signals “progress” amid what were once stalled efforts to pass a deal by the end of the year, noting that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who rejected offers in a similar price range, “has signed off on a $916 billion offer that is based off of the bipartisan framework.” However, Pelosi and Schumer said that “the President’s proposal must not be allowed to obstruct the bipartisan Congressional talks that are underway.”
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The bills proposal came just a week after a 10-person cross-party group introduced a $908 billion bipartisan package that has gained momentum among congressional lawmakers, including Pelosi and Schumer. The two Democrats, who publicly backed the proposal, reportedly abandoned a secret stimulus bill they had been working on and sent to McConnell to instead favor the bipartisan package, which President-elect Joe Biden also backed. In their statement, they noted that since that bill’s introduction, “members of the House and Senate have been engaged in good-faith negotiations and continue to make progress.” They said that “the bipartisan talks are the best hope for a bipartisan solution.”
The White House’s proposal would provide $160 billion for state and local aid, according to NBC News. The provision marks a shift from the White House’s previous standpoints, with Trump long been against including state and local aid in additional relief packages. It also includes a second round of stimulus checks to Americans, something that not included in the bipartisan proposal. The White House’s offer, however, would reduce the total amount of individual payments in half from the $1,200 payments seen under the CARES Act to $600 for eligible Americans.
The package also includes a number of provisions that will likely not sit well with Democrats, such as liability protections for businesses, which is a top priority for Republicans. The bill would extend federal unemployment benefits, which are set to expire at the end of the month, for up to eight weeks, though it would not provide an additional enhanced weekly federal benefit of $300 that Democrats are demanding. In their statement, Pelosi and Schumer directly called this out, stating, “the President’s proposal starts by cutting the unemployment insurance proposal being discussed by bipartisan Members of the House and Senate from $180 billion to $40 billion. That is unacceptable.”
