Democrats are willing to approve a new coronavirus stimulus package that does not include extending the $600 in weekly unemployment benefits, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said Tuesday.
"Look, it's not $600 or bust," the Maryland Democrat said on CNN's "New Day." "To say it's that $600 or nothing, no, that's not where we are. We're prepared to discuss this. But we're also not prepared, however, to let down the American people, to let down the states, the cities, the local governments who hire people, who are meeting this pandemic's crisis, including health personnel."
The Republicans' proposal calls for dropping the weekly unemployment bonus to $200 a week for two months, and then transitioning it to roughly 70% of workers' prior earnings when combined with state assistance, but Hoyer commented that plan is "insufficient."
"To have a draconian $400 cut immediately is going to make it very, very difficult for American families to meet their rent, to pay for food, to pay their living expenses," he said. "It is insufficient. It will let down the American people, and it will damage the economy."
However, he agreed with Republicans' contention that the $600 weekly bonus is keeping people from wanting to return to work because they are making more money on unemployment.
"We ought to deal with that, and there is a way to deal with that, but not this way, not cold turkey," Hoyer said.
Later in the day, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., cited Hoyer's comments while speaking about the Republican proposal during a Senate floor speech.
"Even the Democratic House majority leader said just this morning that our perspective, quote, 'has some validity to it and we ought to deal with that . . . it's not $600 or bust,'" McConnell said. "So let's get past the partisan cheap-shots and have an adult conversation."
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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