$908 Billion COVID Stimulus Proposal Has Pelosi, Schumer Support

On Wednesday (Dec. 2), House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer backed a bipartisan plan for $908 billion for a coronavirus stimulus, CNBC reported, and they encouraged Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to get behind it, too.

The $908 billion package is a narrower one than the Democrats have endorsed previously. But McConnell has held out for a package for around $500 billion. He has signaled that his plans include tying a relief bill to a government funding bill Congress has to pass by Dec. 11, CNBC reported. He called the $908 billion plan a nonstarter, adding the government can’t waste time.

“While we made a new offer to Leader McConnell and [House Minority] Leader [Kevin] McCarthy on Monday, in the spirit of compromise we believe the bipartisan framework introduced by senators yesterday should be used as the basis for immediate bipartisan, bicameral negotiations,” Pelosi and Schumer said, according to CNBC.

At the same time, Democratic House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer planned to speak with McConnell about the possibility of the pandemic relief efforts, CNBC reported, with Hoyer having previously said he wants to pass something by next week. That, CNBC noted, would come by way of a quick compromise and for several key issues to be resolved.

The efforts for a new stimulus come at a precarious time for the future of stimulus efforts, which have dragged on for months now with both political parties debating what a next package should have in it. But as CNBC noted, the protections for unemployed Americans, renters and federal student loan borrowers are set to expire at the end of the year.

There was a Republican counterproposal to the bipartisan $908 billion bill, which PYMNTS reported would include $333 billion, split up between a new round of funding for the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), money for schools, vaccines and farms, and restoring full expensing of business meals for taxes.