Congress has still not been able to agree on a second stimulus package. As a result, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer announced on Monday that the House would not hold any floor votes until Sept. 14, according to Axios. Even though they will not be holding any floor votes, members will remain on a 24-hour notice to return to Washington D.C. in case they can reach a deal concerning another stimulus package.
Hoyer, a Democrat from Maryland, stated this news in which he explained that while the House of Representatives has made efforts to enact economic relief legislation, Republicans have “refused to act.” “Over the past two months, the House has taken extraordinary action on a range of issues important to the American people,” his statement began. “By following a new format of first allowing time for committees to meet and complete their work, followed by time for the House to be in session holding votes, we were able to complete our work safely by minimizing the number of people in the Capitol complex at any one time.” Hoyer continued, “Unfortunately, while it has been nearly three months since the House passed the Heroes Act to provide assistance to families, increase testing and tracing, and help state and local governments keep teachers, first responders, and other essential workers on the job, Republicans have refused to act.”
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The congressman urged Republicans to take “immediate action” to “provide desperately needed relief during this coronavirus pandemic before we can begin the August district work period.” As Hoyer stated, House Democrats did pass the HEROES Act, a $3 trillion stimulus package, in May. However, the plan has not made any further headway. Additionally, Congress has failed to agree on another stimulus package. On Saturday, after another deadline passed without a second stimulus package, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to extend several economic relief programs amidst the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Trump’s executive order called for a $400 weekly supplement to unemployment benefits, an eviction moratorium, student loan forbearance, and a payroll tax holiday. “It would be really nice to do it with the Democrats, but they’re only interested in one thing and that’s protecting people that have not done a good job at managing cities and states and… Nothing to do with COVID… or little to do,” he said at the time about the $1 trillion that Democrats are seeking to help states and local governments. He added, “They want to be able to make up for many, many years and in some cases decades of bad management.” While he did sign this executive order, he did not confirm when it will go into effect.
