House Speaker Nancy Pelosi slammed Republicans Friday morning for resisting Democrats’ calls for a robust “phase four” coronavirus aid package.
Mrs. Pelosi said failing to move a bill that bolsters state and local governments’ funds — a priority for Democrats that was left out of the emergency interim bill — would be “morally wrong.”
Despite passing the $484 billion coronavirus relief package with overwhelming bipartisan support Thursday, Democratic and Republican leaders are continuing to trade partisan barbs as the fight shifts to a potential next bill.
“The president is asking people to inject Lysol into their lungs and [Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell] was saying that states should go bankrupt,” Mrs. Pelosi told reporters at her weekly press conference. “It’s clear, visible — within 24 hours — of how the Republicans reject science and reject governance.”
In an interview with radio host Hugh Hewitt earlier this week, Mr. McConnell said federal assistance to state and local governments needed to be more thoroughly evaluated, noting that many Republicans feel it would be akin to a bailout.
“I would certainly be in favor of allowing states to use the bankruptcy route,” Mr. McConnell said. “It saves some cities. And there’s no good reason for it not to be available. My guess is their first choice would be for the federal government to borrow money from future generations to send it down to them now so they don’t have to do that. That’s not something I’m going to be in favor of.”
President Trump on Friday brushed off his comments at the previous day’s briefing as “sarcastic,” and the White House press team blamed the media for taking his comments out of context.
“I see the disinfectant, where it knocks it out in a minute. One minute. And is there a way we can do something like that, by injection inside or almost a cleaning,” the president said Thursday. “Because you see it gets in the lungs and it does a tremendous number on the lungs. So it would be interesting to check that. So, that, you’re going to have to use medical doctors with.”
The partisan bickering mounted as the deal on the emergency funds stalled for over a week.
Republicans wanted a clean extension of funds for the small-business paycheck loan program and accused Democrats of intentionally delaying the aid for leverage. They laid the blame for an additional 4.4 million jobless applications at Democrats’ feet this week because the bipartisan program dried up on April 15.
Democrats, on the other hand, maintain that Republicans were dragging their feet on money that needed to go out anyway to help the overly stressed health care system and shore up resources for testing.
Funds for state and local governments is set to be at the forefront of the Democrats’ phase four push, which they’re already starting to dub as the Heroes bill in honor of local firefighters and police working during the pandemic.
Mrs. Pelosi said she’d like to see state and local governments get an amount comparable to the funds funneled into small-business relief programs.
The Paycheck Protection Program has already cost the government more than $650 billion after Thursday’s bill, not including the billions in additional economic disaster grants and loans.
Funding is only one of the major requests Democrats plan to push in the phase four bill, which will include vote-by-mail procedures and infrastructure provisions.
Mrs. Pelosi was unsure if Congress would return to regular session by May 4, but assured that Democrats want to move quickly on phase four.
“We will be ready soon with our next bill, and the sooner we can pass it, the better,” she said.
• Gabriella Muñoz can be reached at gmunoz@washingtontimes.com.
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