- Sen. Joe Manchin said on Sunday that he hoped the coronavirus relief bill will be available by tomorrow, but added there would be “no guarantee” on whether it would be get passed in congress.
- In an interview with “Fox News Sunday,” Manchin said, “the plan is alive and well, and there is no way we’re going to leave Washington without taking care of the emergency needs of our people.”
- Congress passed a spending bill on Friday to earn another week to negotiate a coronavirus relief package, but lawmakers have remained gridlocked over a stimulus deal.
- The stakes of not being able to pass a coronavirus relief package are immense. As Business Insider previously reported, one report forecast that 12 million Americans could lose unemployment benefits if lawmakers cannot come to a consensus and pass the bill.
Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia said on Sunday that he hoped the coronavirus relief bill will be available by tomorrow, but added there would be “no guarantee” on whether it would be get passed in congress.
In an interview with “Fox News Sunday,” host Chris Wallace pressed Manchin on whether it was possible a coronavirus relief bill would not pass before the end of the year.
“The plan is alive and well, and there is no way we’re going to leave Washington without taking care of the emergency needs of our people,” said the Democratic senator, who is among a bipartisan group of lawmakers who introduced a $908 billion coronavirus stimulus plan earlier this month.
“Everybody’s not gonna get what they want – we can get something we could all live with. But we’re putting a product forward, it’s going to go forward with both, with everything,” he said. “Hopefully in it, you’ll see a complete bill tomorrow before the end of the day. Then you can choose if you like it or not – vote for it or vote against [it].”
However, when pressed on whether it was feasible that the bill was passed in congress, he responded there was “no guarantee” this would be the case.
Congress passed a spending bill on Friday to earn another week to negotiate a coronavirus relief package, but the coronavirus stimulus deal still faces several obstacles.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has not endorsed the proposed $908 billion stimulus deal, and his staff said that Republican lawmakers sought greater liability protections for businesses and did not agree with the state and local funding proposals in the bill, The New York Times reported.
The deal does not include another round of stimulus checks, despite calls from progressive lawmakers including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez calling for $1,200 direct stimulus payments to Americans, Business Insider’s Kimberly Leonard previously reported.
Earlier this week, the White House proposed a $916 billion stimulus proposal with $600 stimulus checks. However, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer in a joint statement described the White House proposal cutting down unemployment spending by around $140 billion from the initial bipartisan proposal as “unacceptable.”
The stakes of not being able to pass a coronavirus relief package are immense. One report from the Century Foundation showed approximately 12 million Americans could lose unemployment benefits before the end of this month if lawmakers can’t come to a consensus to pass a coronavirus relief bill. In addition, as Business Insider’s Joseph Zeballos-Roig reported, an eviction moratorium will expire before the year is over, risking the loss of homes for 30 to 40 million renters.
