Schumer, Pelosi Reject Latest GOP Pandemic Aid Proposal

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), accompanied by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) speak to reporters following a meeting with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows as they continue to negotiate a CCP virus relief package on Capitol Hill in Washington on Aug. 7, 2020. Andrew Harnik/AP Photo

Democratic leaders on Tuesday announced they will reject a smaller CCP virus aid package that Senate Republicans plan to introduce on Tuesday, suggesting that a partisan and drawn-out fight over stimulus is looming.

“Senate Republicans appear dead set on another bill, which doesn’t come close to addressing the problems and is headed nowhere,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said in a joint statement, rejecting an earlier proposal from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).

They added, “If anyone doubts McConnell’s true intent is anything but political, just look at the bill. This proposal is laden with poison pills Republicans know Democrats would never support.”

In what appears to be an attempt at putting pressure on Democratic leaders, McConnell on Tuesday morning said GOP senators will try to pass a slimmed-down relief bill this week.

“I will make sure every Senate Democrat who has said they'd like to reach an agreement gets the opportunity” to vote on a targeted bill, he said in the statement.

But Schumer and Pelosi signaled Tuesday that the House Speaker will not take up the measure in the House if it passes in the Senate.

President Donald Trump (L) and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) in file photographs. Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times

“Instead of helping state and local workers facing layoffs, feeding hungry families, providing adequate funding for testing and treatment to fight the pandemic, helping renters keep the roof over the heads, stopping the dismantling of the U.S. postal system, and making sure Americans can cast their ballots safely in fair elections this November,” Schumer and Pelosi said in a statement.

They added that “this emaciated bill is only intended to help vulnerable Republican senators by giving them a ‘check the box’ vote to maintain the appearance that they’re not held hostage by their extreme right-wing that doesn’t want to spend a nickel to help people.”

In mid-May, the Democratic-controlled House approved a CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus aid package totaling more than $3 trillion that Republicans in the Senate have not brought up to vote. However, should the package be voted on, it’s unlikely to clear the Senate and hurdle to overcome President Donald Trump’s veto.

A series of negotiations between Democrats and the White House failed to produce a compromise in August, although Pelosi issued an offer that would have cut about approximately $1 trillion from the HEROES Act.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, in televised interviews, said the White House rejects the $2.2 trillion deal, while White House officials have signaled they do not approve of providing nearly $1 trillion in aid to local and state jurisdictions.