House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said on Wednesday that she hopes that Democrats can get more Democrat provisions in a phase four coronavirus package.
Anderson Cooper asked Pelosi what she thought of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-KY) contention that Congress should wait to see how the phase three coronavirus response package impacts the pandemic before moving to a phase four bill.
In response, Pelosi admitted that Democrats were not able to obtain many Democrat provisions in the phase three coronavirus bill drafted by Senate Republicans.
“We couldn’t get everything we wanted in the other bill, let’s begin to go down this path,” Pelosi said.
Pelosi’s jockeying for a phase four coronavirus response bill appears to be a move to stuff more leftist special interests in the bill.
Despite Pelosi’s negotiations with McConnell and the White House on the phase three coronavirus package, she moved to push her own stage three bill that would contain more Democrat provisions.
Democrat Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-SC) said in February regarding the Democrat phase three bill, “This is a tremendous opportunity to restructure things to fit our vision.”
The Pelosi coronavirus bill included:
- Increased fuel emissions standards for airlines receiving coronavirus assistance funds.
- Student loans payments up to $10,000
- Same-day voter registration, early voting, voting by mail, and ballot harvesting
- Preserving collective bargaining for unions
- Expansion of wind and solar tax credits
- Requirements for federal and corporate racial diversity data
- A Post Office bailout
- Automatic extension of nonimmigrant visas
- Restricting colleges from providing information about citizenship status
- Funds for Planned Parenthood
- $300,000,000 for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which produces PBS to “prevent, prepare for, and respond to coronavirus.”
- $278,000,000 for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS)
- $500,000,000 for the Institute for Museum and Library Services
- $35,000,000 for the John F. Kennedy Center
However, despite Pelosi’s move to push her own bill, she ended up supporting McConnell’s phase three bill. Due to Senate Republicans’ victory over Pelosi, the Republican Party was able to block many leftist provisions in the phase three bill including:
- Money for Planned Parenthood.
- Green New Deal
- Federal Mandates for Early and Mail Voting
- Postal Service Bailout
- DHS Funding Restrictions.
“If Chuck Schumer had his way, he would have eliminated the direct checks,” one Senate Republican aide told Breitbart News’s Charlie Spiering in March.
House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) has warned Democrats against pushing for more leftist provisions in a future coronavirus bill. He said in a statement on Wednesday:
This should be a shared interest due to the collaborative and bipartisan approach from which the previous three phases were built upon.
As the legislation from the first three phases is implemented, Republicans stand ready to work across the aisle to support the individuals and institutions that will need more help in the fight against the virus. But the American people cannot afford the distraction of continued attempts to force partisan objectives into our response. Offsetting the carbon footprint of airplanes, remaking our energy grid, or changing election laws, as Democrats have suggested, have nothing to do with our war against the disease.
This isn’t a time to attempt to reshape American life through the eyes of one political party. This is a crisis that demands a bipartisan commitment to focus and execute on behalf of every American affected.
“We will fight this disease together — until we win, together,” McCarthy said.
Sean Moran is a congressional reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SeanMoran3.
via Breitbart News
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