US Senate Republicans May Release Coronavirus Relief Bill Next Week

The GOP-controlled Senate is expected to come up with a new coronavirus relief bill as early as next week, a top Republican senator hinted on Tuesday, September 01.

Sen. John Barrasso said that the goal of the coronavirus relief bill is to consider a “focused, targeted” coronavirus measures. Even though the details of the bill have not been officially released as yet, the third-ranking Republican senator hinted that it is expected to exclude many of the things that the House Speaker Nancy Pelosi included and which happen to be unrelated to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The coronavirus pandemic has massively affected the U.S. economy. Millions of people have lost their employments, businesses have closed and many are struggling to keep up with their expenses and the local governments are more or less out of money.

White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows also said during a media interview that the Republican proposal may be put forward “sometime next week.” He expects the negotiations to get stuck when it comes to the funding for the local and state governments.

The Democrats initially included $1 trillion for the state and local governments. However, this amount was slashed to $15 billion by the Republicans as Meadows said that the proposed amount was not based on reality.

The Democrats later decided to cut the $3.4 trillion coronavirus relief package to $2.2 trillion but insisted that the package must include support for the local and state governments as well as must support unemployment benefits.

However, the White House negotiators and the Democratic lawmakers failed to reach a deal in August and since then, everything has been in limbo.

“We should agree on areas where we can agree and move forward for the benefit of the American people….whether it’s 1 trillion or 1 and a half trillion, again, let’s not get caught on a number," said Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who further urged the need for both sides to reach a conclusion.