Mitch McConnell will hold a second vote on the phase three economic stimulus bill Monday morning after the more than $1.5 trillion relief package failed Sunday night despite a full day of negotiations.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer spent all night settling on measures both Republicans and Democrats could agree on, meeting a handful of time to get the bill ready.
‘Leader Schumer and Secretary Mnuchin are working late into the night, and they just had another productive meeting,’ a spokesman for Schumer said in a statement after 9:00 p.m. Sunday night.
Majority Leader McConnell is prepared to lay out the new bill on the Senate floor at 9:45 a.m.
A bit after midnight Schumer spoke to reporters on Capitol Hill, telling them there were major ‘problems’ with the first version of the bill McConnell presented Sunday night.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is preparing to bring the revised phase three economic stimulus package to the floor for a second vote Monday morning
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer told reporters at the Capitol after late-night negotiating that there were major ‘problems’ with the first version of the bill presented by McConnell
Schumer met several times Sunday with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin (center) on Sunday to discuss the more than $1.5 trillion bill
Congressional leadership met several times over the weekend to negotiate the details of the bill. McConnell’s office revealed a picture of him talking with house Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin
‘Huge amounts of corporate bailout funds without restrictions or without oversight – you wouldn’t even know who is getting the money,’ the Democratic leader said at 12:20 a.m. of the failed measure.
‘Not enough money for hospitals, nurses, PPE [personal protective equipment], masks – all the health care needs. No money for state and local government, many of whom would go broke. Many other things,’ he continued.
‘So we’re working hard to make them better, and we are making progress,’ Schumer said of bipartisan efforts. ‘We’re getting closer and closer. And I’m very hopeful, is how I’d put it, that we can get a bill in the morning.’
The third phase of a stimulus package was unable to pass through the Senate Sunday as Democrats blocked the GOP measure meant to target economic fallout from the coronavirus outbreak.
The ‘ayes’ fell particularly short Sunday night as five Republicans self-quarantined and were unable to go to the floor to cast their votes.
The measure failed with a tie vote of 47 voting in favor of the stimulus package and 47 voting against it.
Kentucky Republican Rand Paul announced Sunday afternoon that he tested positive for coronavirus, causing a handful of other GOP senators to self-isolate over fears they contracted the virus.
‘He is feeling fine and is in quarantine,’ a tweet from his official Twitter account revealed in the statement announcing Paul’s condition.
‘He is asymptomatic and was tested out of an abundance of caution due to his extensive travel and events. He was not aware of any direct contact with any infected person,’ the statement continued.
‘He expects to be back in the Senate after his quarantine period ends and will continue to work for the people of Kentucky at this difficult time.’
Five Republican senators are self-isolating, including Rand Paul, who’s office announced Sunday that he tested positive for coronavirus – becoming the first senator to contract the disease
Utah Senator Mitt Romney announced Sunday he was quarantining after coming into close contact with Paul several times in the last week and claimed he would be taking a test to see if he contract the virus
Paul is the first senator to test positive for the fast-spreading respiratory disease and the third member of Congress.
Representatives Mario Diaz Balart of Florida and Ben McAdams of Utah revealed last week that they have also tested positive.
Utah Republican Mitt Romney announced Sunday he would be self-isolating after coming in close contact with Paul several times in the last week.
‘Since Senator Romney sat next to Senator Paul for extended periods in recent days and consistent with CDC guidance, the attending physician has ordered him to immediately self-quarantine and not to vote on the Senate floor,’ Romney’s office said in a statement.
The announcement came about an hour after Paul’s office revealed the senator’s situation.
McConnell is facing extra obstacles on getting the bill passed as the Republican majority has essentially slimmed with five unable to show up for votes as they remain in self-isolation.
Democrats, Republicans and Trump have all expressed they are interested in implementing a temporary measure to allow lawmakers to vote remotely as more and more self-quarantine over fears of contracting or spreading coronavirus.
More than 50 congressmen and women have already signed onto a resolution proposed by California Democrat Eric Swalwell demanding that the House allow remote voting.
The measure argues that Congress is breaking the guidelines outlined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on social distancing by gathering hundreds of people into the same space for sessions.
Democratic Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois and Republican Senator Rob Portman of Ohio are proposing a similar remote voting resolution on the Senate side of Congress.
‘We could be in a position where – I certainly would be in favor of it. Where they could vote from a certain outside location. I would be in favor of it,’ Trump said Sunday during a White House coronavirus task force briefing.
‘I was thinking about it today, I mean we could be in this – look, with what’s going on, nobody’s seen anything like this. You could have a lot of people in there from Congress,’ he continued. ‘I would be totally in favor of it on a temporary basis.’