Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) is weighing in on where lawmakers stand with COVID-19 relief negotiations.
During a press conference on Thursday, Schumer revealed when relief talks will resume.
“There’s a little bit of good news, as of today. As you know, I’ve been eager to sit down with Leader McConnell, Speaker Pelosi, to have some discussions and leader McConnell for months has resisted that,” Schumer said.
He argued McConnell put forth a bill lacking funding for hospitals and state and local governments.
Schumer called it an “emaciated bill filled with poison pills.”
“They’ve agreed to sit down, and the staffs are going to sit down today or tomorrow to try to begin to see if we can get a real good Covid relief bill. So there’s been a little bit of a breakthrough in that McConnell’s folks are finally sitting down and talking to us,” Schumer said.
Watch her comments below:
NEW VIDEO: @SenSchumer to @SPECNewsAlbany on #COVID #stimulus talks resuming: "The staffs are going to sit down today or tomorrow to try to begin to see if we can get a good COVID relief bill so there's been a little bit of a breakthrough…" @NY1 @SpectrumNewsDC pic.twitter.com/ZVobvr1ds9
— Jeevan Vittal (@JvittalTV) November 19, 2020
Schumer’s comments come just two days after he and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) sent a letter to McConnell imploring him to meet them at the negotiating table to strike a deal, as IJR previously reported.
“The time to act is upon us like never before. The COVID-19 pandemic and economic recession will not end without our help. It is essential that this bill have sufficient funding and delivers meaningful relief to the many Americans who are suffering,” Pelosi and Schumer wrote.
They added, “For the sake of the country, we ask that you come to the table and work with us to produce an agreement that meets America’s needs in this critical time.”
The number of coronavirus-related deaths totaled more than 250,000 on Wednesday.
There has been an average of 162,816 cases per day over the past week, a 77% increase from two weeks prior.
