It's "absolutely essential" that agreement be reached on the next coronavirus stimulus bill, as COVID numbers are spiking, but the virus must be defeated if the economy and schools are going to reopen and "we haven't done that," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Monday, before she was to meet with lawmakers and administration officials to further discuss legislation.
"Millions of children are hungry, are food insecure," (and) tens of millions of people are out at work and have filed for unemployment claims," the California Democrat said on CNN Monday. "The state and local governments will have to fire people because of the expenses they are incurring...we again have to honor our heroes and see what we can invest in our state and local governments."
Meanwhile, Democrats are sticking to the $600 per week unemployment bonus, but the White House has said it wants to drop that figure to $200 and Pelosi insisted that is not enough.
"You're not saying to the American people we have more infections, more deaths, we have more unemployment, we have more hunger, and now we're going to cut your benefit," said Pelosi, but added that if the numbers of unemployed went down, the benefits could be phased out.
"Right now, today, we have an emergency," said Pelosi. "A building is on fire and they are deciding how much water they want to have in the bucket. Millions of people could have fallen into poverty without this $600. They are so fussy about any anecdotal information they may have about somebody not going to work because they make $600 on this, but they are so cavalier about big money to companies that really shouldn't be having it, so the $600 is very important in the lives of the American people."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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