Just ahead of the scheduled vote on the HEROES Act Thursday, Nancy Pelosi said they are placing their offer on the table and are willing to negotiate. This comment comes after the White House delivered an official veto threat on the legislation, claiming Democrats are trying to pass "long-standing partisan and ideological wish lists" rather than focusing on America's economic and public health challenges.
The White House strongly criticized the Democrats for making the second round of $1,200 direct payments available to undocumented immigrants. Aside from that, the White House chided them for including a $25 billion bailout for U.S. Postal Service and for providing financial backing to same-day registration and vote-by-mail priorities.
At the Capitol, Pelosi touted the legislation, history's biggest relief package, as a necessary expense to suffice the unprecedented health and economic crisis that claimed about 85,000 lives and left nearly 36 million people jobless in America. Pelosi described the situation as an exciting time for them citing their monumental need for the country at this said time.
Policy and political news premier source The Hill posted a 38-second long video on its Twitter account, wherein Pelosi talks about Mitch McConnell urging the lawmakers to take a "pause" on coronavirus relief spending, to which she replies that families know that hunger doesn't pause. At a press conference, she recalled the overwhelming support that the earlier four coronavirus bills received, adding that Republicans have already shown support by voting in favor in numerous of the issues in the bill, such as $1,200 direct payments to several people across the country, coronavirus testing, expanded unemployment help and state, as well as local government funds.
Pelosi noted that 80 percent of the bill they have already passed in some way or the other. Bringing up the fact that the House Democrats drafted the bill without the White House or the Senate Republicans, Pelosi noted that it is not uncommon for one branch to take the control in a bid to expedite the overall approval process.
Noting that it is not new that one side of the aisle places something on the table, as was the case with the previous two bills, Pelosi said they are putting their request forward and are willing to negotiate. Republicans and Senate leadership, on the other hand, haven't approved of the coronavirus relief legislation fifth round, claiming that after about $3 trillion already been borrowed to take care of American people stuck at home, workers who lost their jobs and to support small businesses, it is time to pause.