US Senate Dems Block Virus Stimulus, Slam Republicans For Forcing Vote On 'Emaciated' Bill

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 22nd October, 2020) Senate Republicans failed to pass a $500 billion COVID-19 stimulus bill on Wednesday that Democrats said will leave too many Americans behind.

"Senator [Mitch] McConnell's games continue today with a vote on the GOP's [Republican] emaciated COVID-relief bill," Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said after the vote.

The Senate said by a tally of 51-44 cloture was not invoked on the bill put forth by Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. A minimum of 60 consenting votes were required for the bill to pass.

Democrats, led by House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, issued in May their own $2.2 trillion aid bill in Congress but even that has failed to pass in the Senate due to opposition from Republicans.

The two parties approved in a bipartisan way the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) stimulus in March, dispensing roughly $3 trillion as paycheck protection for workers, loans and grants for businesses and other personal aid for qualifying citizens and residents.

Since then, lawmakers have been locked in a stalemate on a successive package to the CARES. The dispute has basically been over the size of the next relief, as thousands of Americans, particularly those in the airlines sector, risked losing their jobs without further aid.

Negotiations resumed at the weekend after House Speaker Pelosi gave the the Trump administration a 48-hour deadline to reach a deal or risk forgoing one before the November 3 US election, where the president faces Democrat challenger Joe Biden.

Pelosi had also set $2 trillion as the starting point for negotiations, although she said she would consider the White House's revised offer, which has stood at between $1.8 trillion and $1.9 trillion. The Speaker and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, the administration's top negotiator on the stimulus, have spoken on the phone daily since.

Deputy White House Spokesperson Brian Morgenstern, in comments circulated to the press on Wednesday, said he was optimistic that the negotiators will reach an agreement before the election. "It is possible. We remain committed to getting something done as soon as possible. We remain ever hopeful."

The US economy shrank more than 34.3 percent in the second quarter of 2020 for its sharpest decline since the financial crisis of 2008/09, as of the 50 states in the country went into lockdown to stem the outbreak of the COVID-19 between March and May. While almost all sectors of the economy have largely reopened since, jobs and business growth have been slow.

Some 21 million jobs were lost between March and April, at the height of lockdowns forced by the pandemic. About 2.5 million positions were added back in May and 4.8 million in June, before the recovery began slowing. For all of September, there were just 661,000 job additions.