Political Quotes

“now, we have spent the past 4 to 5 days locked in intense bipartisan negotiations over the final details of an emergency relief package. There are a few issues outstanding, but I am quite hopeful that we are closing in on an outcome. It appears that, barring a major mishap, the Senate and House will be able to vote on final legislation as early as tonight--tonight. Many of the provisions in this bill are already public. They are all items that the country desperately needs and upon which there is no disagreement. We all are ready to deliver a desperately needed extension of enhanced unemployment benefits; direct survival checks to millions of American families; crucial relief to our schools, our small businesses, our healthcare system; and funding to support the production and distribution of a vaccine. As of yesterday, we have been steadily working through all of the other outstanding issues, but one issue threatened to derail the bill. The Senator from Pennsylvania made an eleventh-hour demand to curtail the authority of the Fed to respond to economic crises, potentially leaving the Fed with less authority than it had even prior to the pandemic. The language in his provision was so broad, the intent seemed to be to sabotage the incoming administration's ability to stabilize the economy and save jobs. That was completely unacceptable to Democrats. But late last night the logjam was broken.…”