Deal on Coronavirus Stimulus Package Imminent after Democrats Block Two Bills in 24 Hours

The Senate may be close to a deal on an almost $2 trillion economic stimulus package. This comes one day after Senate Democrats blocked the package two days in a row.

Monday’s vote led to partisan bickering on the floor like few observers have seen in their lifetimes, CBN News reports. Democrats demanded that a long list of “Progressive wish-list” items be added to the bill and argued that the bill did not do enough for people at the bottom of the economy. They also objected to $500 billion set aside for corporate bailouts that they claim would be a “slush fund” for Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said the bill, “includes a large corporate bailout with no protections for workers and virtually no oversight.” He added that he was also troubled by “significant shortfalls of money that our hospitals, states, cities, and medical workers desperately needed.”

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said the “Democrats won’t let us fund hospitals or save small businesses unless they get to dust off the Green New Deal.” One Democratic demand was for new emissions standards for airlines, which led Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX), to thunder from the Senate floor, to question, “What the hell do the emissions standards on airplanes have to do with thousands of people dying and millions of people out of work in…