Political Quotes

“the most important item on the Senate's to-do list before the end of the year is a bipartisan emergency relief package for a nation suffering the worst month of the COVID-19 pandemic. Negotiations continue between a bipartisan group of Senate and House Members who, last week, agreed in principle on a $900-plus billion emergency relief proposal. As the details continue to get sorted, Speaker Pelosi and I have encouraged everyone to use this bipartisan proposal as a framework for negotiations. Yesterday, the White House presented us an offer of similar size, around $900 billion--an encouraging sign that Republican leadership is moving in the right direction by endorsing the size of the Gang of 8's bill. But the President's proposal must not be allowed to supersede or obstruct the bipartisan congressional talks that are underway. That is where the real action is and where bipartisan agreement on the basic concepts will ultimately be forged. The President's proposal, for instance, completely misses the mark on unemployment benefits and aid to American families. In order to include $600 stimulus checks, it actually cuts proposed unemployment benefits by greater than a factor of 4, from $180 billion to just $40 billion-- an unacceptably low amount--while tens of millions of Americans remain out of work, almost all of whom have lost their jobs because of COVID. Economists from every end of the spectrum, including the conservative U.S.…”