Lawmakers have still not been able to come to an agreement regarding the second stimulus package for Americans. On July 27, Senate Republicans unveiled their own stimulus proposal — the HEALS Act, which would cost around $1 trillion. But, that figure is nowhere near acceptable for Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, who told CNN on Tuesday she would accept a price point in the $3 trillion range.
During her discussion with CNN, Pelosi was asked whether there was a price tag that she would settle for. She replied simply: $3.4 trillion. While Pelosi may want the next stimulus package to be around $3.4 trillion, that figure does not sit well with those on the other side of the aisle. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has rejected that amount. He even criticized the $3 trillion-plus stimulus package that House Democrats pushed forward months ago, the HEROES Act, which did pass in the House of Representatives. At the time, McConnell compared the HEROES Act to “a parade of absurdities that can hardly be taken seriously, a “1,800-page catalog of left-wing oddities” and “long-standing wish-list items that are completely unrelated to the crisis itself.”
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Pelosi has been in talks with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, and White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows regarding the second stimulus bill. On Saturday, the four engaged in a discussion about the next stimulus package and it was said to have been a productive meeting. “I guess we would also characterize the discussions as the most productive we’ve had to date,” Mnuchin told reporters following their deliberations. “We went through a long list of policy issues on our side and on their side, as we’ve suggested in the past, there’s clearly a subset of issues where we both agree on very much.”
Even though they had a productive meeting, they have still not been able to come to an agreement concerning the next stimulus package for Americans. Not only do they appear to have a disagreement regarding the price tag of their plan, but they also disagree on some of the factors of the bill.
On Friday, Pelosi told reporters that she was not thrilled about the Republicans’ “piecemeal” approach as it concerns benefits that could help Americans during one of the most significant health and economic crises that this country has seen. She said, “Republicans in the Senate came back with a piecemeal approach. Clearly, they and perhaps the White House do not understand the gravity of the situation. This is a freight train that is picking up steam.”
