Pelosi pressures Senate, White House: House is staying in session until COVID-19 relief is done

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Pelosi pressures Senate, White House: House is staying in session until COVID-19 relief is done
Joan McCarter
Daily Kos Staff
Tuesday September 15, 2020 · 12:59 PM EDT


It's been 123 days since the House passed the $3 trillion HEROES Act, which Mitch McConnell has refused to take up, and it's 15 days until the government runs out of funding with the end of the fiscal year. Oh, and the election is in 49 days. That's a lot of stuff to be juggling in the 11 officially scheduled legislative days left before Congress decides to go off to campaign.

However, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, in recognition that Mitch McConnell has abdicated all responsibility for the nation's welfare so it's up to her, isn't going to let the House go. Not until there's a coronavirus relief bill done she announced today, with the support of the Democratic caucus. "I just got off a call with my colleagues; we are committed to staying here until we have an agreement that meets the needs of the American people,” she said Tuesday morning on CNBC. "We're optimistic that the Repub—that the White House, at least, will understand that we have to do some things." Take that, Mitch. You're being ditched, again, while the responsible people figure out what to do.

"We expect to be here as long as it takes to get something done on behalf of the American people," Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, caucus chairman confirmed. That's probably not what all of the worried swing state Democrats wanted to hear, but they've been clamoring for Pelosi to do something. The something they came up with was a further pared-down bill, a $1.52 trillion "bipartisan" compromise. That comes from the "Problem Solvers Caucus," who were preempted in releasing their plan by Pelosi's announcement that the House isn't leaving until this is done. Their plan has $450/week for supplemental unemployment insurance for another 8 weeks, the official House line is it stays at $600. It also includes another round of direct stimulus checks of $1,200 and $500 per child. Pelosi rejected that on the call Tuesday, not wanting to pare her compromise offer of $2.4 trillion, where talks with the White House left off, down any further. "A skinny deal is not a deal," Pelosi said on the call. "It is a Republican bill." She didn't directly address the Problem Solvers bill on the call, beyond that.

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https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/9/15/1977608/-Pelosi-pressures-Senate-White-House-House-is-staying-in-session-until-COVID-19-relief-is-done