Where do second stimulus checks stand? Here’s what top Democrats, Republicans say
By Bailey Aldridge
The Raleigh News & Observer
A second round of coronavirus stimulus checks remains in limbo as August drew to a close without an agreement among lawmakers on a relief package.
Talks about the relief package, which is expected to include stimulus checks, resumed last week, the Associated Press reported Sunday. But Democrats and Republicans remain locked in a stalemate and unable to reach a compromise on spending.
In mid-May the House of Representatives passed the Democrats’ $3 trillion coronavirus aid bill, the Heroes Act, that was never voted on in the Senate. Senate Republicans introduced their own $1 trillion package, the Health, Economic Assistance, Liability Protection and Schools, or HEALS, Act in late July, McClatchy News reported.
Both plans include another round of the $1,200 relief payments that were sent to individuals under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security, or CARES, Act earlier this year. The HEALS Act includes another $500 for dependents, as the CARES Act did, and the Heroes Act includes $1,200 for dependents. The White House on Friday offered a $1.3 trillion relief bill. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., turned it down, saying it wouldn’t provide enough funding to help Americans need during the COVID-19 crisis, The Hill reported.
On Sunday, White House chief of staff Mark Meadows criticized Pelosi’s rejection of the offer during an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” blaming her for stalled negotiations.
“Here’s the problem: She puts forth a number, suggests that she came down and yet she’s willing to turn down $1.3 trillion of help that goes to the American people because she would rather them have nothing than to give way on what her fantasy might be,” he said during the interview.
But Pelosi has said Democrats are willing to meet the White House and Senate Republicans at $2.2 trillion in funding and that, once they are willing to meet in the middle, “we can sit down and talk.”
“They have to move. They have to move,” she told reporters during a news conference last week. “Why should there be a bill that has far less what the public needs? We have that responsibility. They’re just going to have to come up with more money.”
The CARES Act, which was signed into law in March, was a $2.2 trillion bill. Meadows told “Meet the Press” on Sunday the White House won’t go up from $1.3 trillion. “Listen, we’re not going to negotiate here because the speaker’s been very clear,” he said.
Democrats and Republicans have been in disagreement over the package for weeks. After Congress failed to reach an agreement on the weekly $600 federal boost to unemployment, which expired at the end of July, President Donald Trump issued executive orders in early August, including one to provide funding for temporary additions of between $300 and $400 to Americans receiving unemployment benefits.
But his orders still left out much of what congressional Democrats have pushed to be included.
A second round of stimulus checks, however, has support from both sides, The Hill reports.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has said he is hopeful for a deal despite the stalemate, and House lawmakers also seemed hopeful about negotiations last week.
But Congress is in recess until after Labor Day, and lawmakers likely won’t be called back to Washington, D.C., unless there’s a deal ready to be voted on. Additionally, the two sides are “nowhere near resolution” and talks are “broadening to include Postal Service funds before the November election.”
Controversy has surrounded the U.S. Postal Service and mail-in voting as the upcoming election nears. Democrats have pushed for more funding for the agency while Trump has refused support. While Democrats have urged increased access to mail-in voting during the pandemic, Trump and others in the White House have, without evidence, said doing so will lead to increased fraud and hurt his chances of reelection.
