Pelosi Hopeful COVID-19 Aid Bill Can Still Pass Before Election

U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she was hopeful legislation for additional COVID-19 relief could be finalized before the Nov. 3 presidential election no matter how the Republican-led Senate voted on a slimmed down version later on Thursday, Reuters informed.

Pelosi, who controls the Democratic-led House of Representatives that passed a larger bill in May, told reporters at a news conference that novel coronavirus pandemic-related relief would not be in a separate measure to fund federal government agencies.

Pelosi also warned that Britain will be unable to secure a trade deal with the U.S. if it does anything to undermine the treaty that brought peace to Northern Ireland after decades of violence, CNN adds.

Pelosi’s comments came after the UK said it would legislate to override parts of the divorce deal with the European Union in the event that a trade agreement isn’t reached.

The UK government claims that its Internal Market Bill is designed to ensure that trade between the four nations of the United Kingdom would remain unfettered in the event of a no-deal Brexit.

The UK concedes that it would breach the EU withdrawal agreement; a British Cabinet minister said this week that the legislation would “break international law in a very specific and limited way.”

That did not go down well among top Democrats in the U.S., who fear it could undermine the 1998 Good Friday agreement, which brought peace to Northern Ireland after decades of sectarian conflict.

“If the UK violates that international treaty and Brexit undermines the Good Friday accord, there will be absolutely no chance of a US-UK trade agreement passing the Congress,” Pelosi said in a statement on Wednesday.

UK government ministers insist that the legislation would protect, not undermine, the Good Friday accord. The EU vehemently disagreed on Thursday.

“The EU does not accept the argument that the aim of the draft Bill is to protect the Good Friday (Belfast) Agreement. In fact, it is of the view that it does the opposite,” the European Commission said in a statement. It gave the UK until the end of the month to withdraw the disputed parts of the bill.