The Republican-led U.S. Senate was scrambling on Thursday to hammer out details of a $1 trillion-plus package to stem the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic, a crisis that has sparked a rare moment of bipartisanship, Reuters writes.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said the bill eagerly sought by the Trump administration would include direct financial assistance to Americans, lending to key industries including airlines and money for more medical equipment.
“These are not ordinary policies. This is no ordinary time,” McConnell said on the Senate floor. “We have to beat back this virus.”
The package is the third taken up by Congress since the coronavirus erupted in the United States, killing more than 150 people, shutting schools, businesses and wide swaths of American life, and sending the stock market into a tailspin.
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said whatever package is developed must include a “massive infusion of resources” for hospitals, and there must be worker protections in any industry bailouts.
As for the prospect of direct cash payments to individual Americans, Schumer said they needed to be “bigger, more generous, and more frequent” than he had heard Republicans describe.
President Donald Trump sharply changed his tone on the risks posed by the virus this week, after long downplaying them, and has talked about sending Americans $1,000 checks, Reuters adds.
McConnell repeated that the Senate would remain in session until it finishes the legislation and sends it to the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives. “We’re not leaving until we do our job,” he said.
House leaders, meanwhile, were trying to work out new voting procedures that would allow them to reconvene without endangering members after Utah Democrat Ben McAdams and Florida Republican Mario Diaz-Balart tested positive for the virus.
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