Steve Scalise slams Democrats as small business negotiations make no movement on Capitol Hill

House Minority Whip Steve Scalise slammed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer Tuesday for the delay in getting additional funds to the emergency small business loans program.

“The Senate had a chance to get it done. Unfortunately, you saw Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi come out with a list of demands as you could call them,” Mr. Scalise, Louisiana Republican, said on Fox News.

Senate Republicans attempted to pass an additional $250 billion last Thursday, but were blocked by Senate Democrats who wanted to take the opportunity to fix problems in the program and expand resources in other areas.

In addition to the $250 billion, Democratic leadership wanted $125 billion for financial institutions that serve low-income communities, $100 billion more for health care institutions, $150 billion for state and local governments, and a 15% increase in food security benefits. Their proposal was blocked, in turn, by Republicans.

“We’ve got to stay away from those kinds of games. Hopefully, we can get focused back on making sure this Paycheck Protection Program stays afloat, not just for the million businesses that already applied, but for the other maybe million businesses that are waiting to come,” Mr. Scalise said.

The $2.2 trillion economic package Congress passed in March allocated about $350 billion in loans that businesses with fewer than 500 employees are eligible to apply for. The “paycheck protection” plan was designed to help businesses make payroll payments for eight weeks.

Since the partisan squabble on Thursday, there haven’t been any major gains moving Congress closer to a deal.

Mrs. Pelosi, California Democrat, wrote to her caucus on Tuesday to criticize the Trump administration and Federal Reserve for excluding nonprofits in the loan program.

“This is a significant blow in particular to entities that are also ineligible for the Paycheck Protection Program,” she wrote. “We cannot accept Leader McConnell’s proposals that would only perpetuate the flaws that are threatening the survival of the most vulnerable small businesses and would do nothing to aid desperate hospitals and state and local governments.”