Congressional Leaders Trade Accusations on Pandemic Stimulus Bill

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), left, at a press conference on Capitol Hill on, Dec. 19, 2019 and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) at a media availability on Capitol Hill in Washington on Nov. 7, 2018. Saul Loeb and Nicholas Kamm/AFP via Getty Images

A week after the Nov. 3 election, it appears that neither Democrats nor Republicans are looking to offer concessions on a new CCP virus stimulus package.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said in a Thursday press conference that neither of them have plans to budge from their position on demanding a $2 trillion stimulus package and are refusing to lower their offer.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) both rejected their offer.

“I gather [Pelosi] and the Democratic leader in the Senate still are looking at something dramatically larger. That’s not a place I think we’re willing to go,” McConnell told Politico. “But I do think there needs to be another package. Hopefully we can get past the impasse we’ve had now for four or five months and get serious.”

McConnell said that the U.S. economy is coming back, which means targeted—and smaller—stimulus bills are needed.

McCarthy, in a news conference, rejected Pelosi’s demands, accusing her of playing politics “from the very first time we did the CARES Act,” which was passed in March and authorized $1,200 stimulus checks, small business loans, and extra unemployment benefits.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington on Oct. 20, 2020. Stefani Reynolds/Getty Images

“You watched her delay it a week. You watched her and I’ve watched her time and again inside the meetings. She had one mission and one mission only,” he alleged, saying that her strategy was to make President Donald Trump appear “weaker for an election.”

Senate Republicans appear likely to keep their majority next year, as due to historical precedent, it would be highly unlikely for Democrats to win in both Senate runoff races. Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.) was ahead of challenger Jon Ossoff by nearly 2 percentage points but didn’t reach the 50 percent mark, meaning a runoff election is needed, according to Georgia election law.

Pelosi told reporters that she has no intention to pass a stimulus package that is only $500 billion, which is what McConnell has proposed in the past. Standing next to Pelosi in the conference, Schumer also said the measure is too small.

“Our position is the same it has been all along,” Pelosi told reporters. “We’re at the same place. Even more so.”

She also claimed Trump lost the election and said his legal cases in battleground states are a distraction. “Stop the circus and get to work on what really matters to the American people: their health and their economic security,” Pelosi said.

“Joe Biden has won. Now move on and work with us to solve the COVID crisis,” Schumer also said. “Let us bring the country together and get things done.”

The Epoch Times has not declared a winner in the presidential race due to outstanding lawsuits that have not been resolved, while the Electoral College—not media outlets—is the body that votes to choose a president.