Anxious Democrats amp up pressure for vote on COVID-19 aid

[mystery-ak]

Anxious Democrats amp up pressure for vote on COVID-19 aid
By Mike Lillis and Scott Wong - 09/24/20 12:59 PM EDT

House Democrats, increasingly anxious about leaving Washington without acting on coronavirus relief, are amping up the pressure on Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to bring emergency aid to the floor before Congress heads home next week.

Pelosi has held firm that she will not lower her demand for a $2.2 trillion package, but a growing number of uneasy centrists are clamoring to vote on some new stimulus legislation — even without a deal — before Oct. 2, when the House is scheduled to recess for the final leg of campaigning ahead of the Nov. 3 elections.

“There's an awful lot of concern amongst members that things be done,” said Rep. John Larson (Conn.), the former head of the Democratic Caucus.


The pressure is emerging in different forms.

Moderate Democrats have taken the remarkable step of threatening to endorse a Republican effort to force a floor vote on a single provision of the relief blueprint — help for small businesses — even against the wishes of their own leadership.

The Problem Solvers Caucus, a bipartisan group of centrist lawmakers, continued this week to press leaders in both parties to act immediately on a package topping $1.5 trillion.

more
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/518025-anxious-democrats-amp-up-pressure-for-vote-on-covid-aid

[mystery-ak]

Pelosi asks panels to draft new COVID-19 relief measure

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has tasked her committee heads with drafting a Democratic package of emergency coronavirus relief, which could potentially be brought to the floor next week if Democrats fail to reach a bipartisan deal with the White House before then.

Rep. Richard Neal (D-Mass.), head of the Ways and Means Committee, is leading the charge. He said the package is in the range of $2.2 trillion — representing the last figure Pelosi had offered the Republicans — and that it could receive a vote by Oct. 2, when the House is scheduled to recess for the elections.

"The contours are all there; I think it's about timeframe and all of that," Neal said Thursday just outside the Capitol.


"The Ways and Means Committee wrote most of it to begin with," he added. "So we're just going to revisit a lot of it."

more
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/518042-pelosi-asks-panels-to-draft-new-covid-19-relief-measure

[IsailedawayfromFR]

Panic is setting in as they go home to face constituents.

They need something, anything, to say they voted on relief, even if it has zero chance of becoming law.

[montanajoe]

Panic is setting in as they go home to face constituents.

They need something, anything, to say they voted on relief, even if it has zero chance of becoming law.

Panic is setting in on both sides...Trump wants it as well so the GOP will go along..

None of the politicians in Washington have a problem with spending taxpayer money to get elected..they only differ on where to spread the pork..

[IsailedawayfromFR]

Panic is setting in on both sides...Trump wants it as well so the GOP will go along..

None of the politicians in Washington have a problem with spending taxpayer money to get elected..they only differ on where to spread the pork..

Untrue.  They also differ on how much.