Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Monday that Nancy Pelosi lost her gamble that the general election would increase the Democrats’ majority in the House of Representatives and increase her leverage to getting a much larger coronavirus mitigation package through Congress.
“Their all-or-nothing strategy backfired,” McConnell said in a Senate floor speech Monday, an apparent message to get Pelosi to negotiate on the measure.
House Democrats in May passed a $3.4 trillion HEROES Act, a bill designed to replace some of the measures that expired from the original Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security, or CARES, Act. The CARES Act, adopted in late March, was a $2.2 trillion package that included direct payments to most taxpayers as well as assistance to businesses. It also offered enhanced unemployment compensation.
The Democrats’ second package included replacements for things such as the paycheck protection program and enhanced unemployment compensation, but also added items such as payments to local and state governments.
The White House and Republicans balked, particularly at the payments to local and state governments, initially offering a $1 trillion package. The two sides have gone back-and-forth since, with the House Democrats approving a $2.2 trillion package in October and the White House reportedly countering with as much as $1.8 trillion. McConnell remained steadfast and even suggested a $500 billion package.
“The speaker of the House spent the entire summer and the entire autumn literally gambling with the health and welfare of the American people,” McConnell said. “She gambled that if American families didn't get any more relief before the election, her party would expand its majority in the House and Democrats could continue demanding the right to remake all of society along far-Left lines, in exchange for not passing any more COVID relief whatsoever.”
Political analysts, such as the Cook Political Report, predicted the Democrats would pick up as many as 15 seats in the House in addition to Joe Biden winning the White House by double digits.
However, holding a 232-197 advantage before the election, Democrats appear headed to lose as many as nine seats while the Republicans seem destined for a 15-seat gain.
“For six months, Democrats have been pressing Republicans to agree to the next round of coronavirus relief, and for six months, Leader McConnell has insisted on a ‘pause,’ while the White House’s negotiators accused vulnerable families of lying about not being able to pay the bills,” Pelosi spokesman Drew Hammill told the Washington Examiner.
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