Pandemic response, spending top agenda in Biden meeting with Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer
President-elect Joe Biden met Friday with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer to discuss federal spending, both in response to the coronavirus pandemic and to keep the government open.
“I hope we’re going to spend a lot of time together,” Biden told Pelosi and Schumer in brief opening comments at The Queen theater in Wilmington, Delaware, before reporters left the room.
Biden has urged the Republican-controlled Senate to consider $2 trillion legislation for COVID-19 from the Democratic House aimed providing a second wave of direct payments to taxpayers, aid to state and local governments, and food and rental assistance.
But Republicans leery of the price tag supported a $500 billion package to focus on small-business loans, additional unemployment benefits and aid to schools, and for testing.
“It is a targeted bill,” Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., told reporters Tuesday. “It's a fiscally responsible bill.”
“We are in a full-blown economic and health catastrophe, and it is amazing to see the patience the GOP has for other people’s suffering," Pelosi, D-Calif., told reporters at the Capitol before meeting Biden.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/pandemic-response-spending-top-agenda-in-biden-meeting-with-nancy-pelosi-and-chuck-schumer/ar-BB1bdy3W?li=BBnb7Kz
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