The leaders of the House of Representatives, Democrat Nancy Pelosi, and the Senate, Republican Mitch McConnell, They spoke again this Thursday about a new package with financial aid while the pandemic rages.
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It was a phone conversation, but the first they have had in months both leaders of Congress. Until they were in limbo on the eve of the elections, the negotiations on this matter had been largely led by Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.
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McConnell had chosen to take a different line, promoting a less ambitious aid package than the one proposed by the Democrats.
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“Spokesperson and leader McConnell spoke at 12:45 pm today by phone about their shared commitment to complete a covid-19 relief and budget bill as soon as possible,” the spokesperson for Pelosi, Drew Hammill, without providing further details.
Pressure to approve new federal aid has grown amid the rapid rebound in the pandemic with a harsh winter on the horizon. The United States registered this Wednesday grim record of confirmed cases and deaths in a single day, as well as hospitalizations.
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Opening for the new proposal
This week, a bipartisan group of lawmakers presented a $ 908 billion plan that has been greeted openly by the Democratic leadership in Congress and by Republican senators.
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Iowa Senator Charles Grassley and his South Carolina counterpart Lindsey Graham were two of those who were open Thursday to work on a bill that uses the proposal as a starting point.
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“I have never been more hopeful that we will have a bill … I support the $ 908 billion bill,” Graham was quoted as saying by the newspaper. The Washington Post.
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On the eve, Pelosi, and leader of the Democratic minority in the Senate, Charles Schumer, also expressed openness with this plan, despite the fact that is substantially less than nearly $ 2 trillion (trillions in English) that they have supported in recent months.
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In the case of Republicans in the Senate, the consensus so far has revolved around a less ambitious plan for about $ 500 billion or around giving the green light to separate measures, such as specifically giving new federal unemployment benefits or more funding to the small business program.
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