The Senate on Monday didn’t advance a significant stimulus package to combat the CCP virus for the second time in two days.
Senators voted 49-46 and fell short of the three-fifths support that is necessary to debate a massive $1.5 trillion package. The negotiations will continue between Democrats and Republicans, said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.).
The Epoch Times refers to the novel coronavirus, which causes the disease COVID-19, as the CCP virus because the Chinese Communist Party’s coverup and mismanagement allowed the virus to spread throughout China and create a global pandemic.
“We’re very close to reaching a deal, very close and our goal is to reach a deal today and we’re hopeful, even confident, that we will meet that goal,” Schumer said on the floor of the Senate on Monday.
“Democrats won’t let us fund hospitals or save small businesses until they get to dust off the Green New Deal,” said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). “This has got to stop. And today is the day it has to stop. The country is out of time.”
But Schumer said shortly before the vote that he believes the two sides would come to an agreement Monday.
“We hope and expect those negotiations to conclude today,” he told reporters.
All the while, the Dow Jones dropped by at least 600 points as of 2 p.m. ET. It comes as the market effectively wiped out all of the gains under President Donald Trump’s administration and as businesses and even entire industries shut down over the pandemic.
There are also more than 35,000 CCP virus cases in the United States along with more than 400 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.
“The markets are tanking once again, as I said, because this body can’t get its act together, and the only reason it can’t get its act together is right over here on the other side of the aisle,” McConnell said, referring to the economic downturn.
Democrats blocked the stimulus package from moving forward in the Senate on Sunday.
“The bill still includes something that most Americans don’t want to see. Large corporate bailouts with almost no strings attached,” Schumer said on Monday, according to The Hill.
“The American people are watching this spectacle,” McConnell said. “I’m told the futures market is down 5 percent. I’m also told that’s when trading stops. So the notion that we have time to play games here with the American economy and the American people is utterly absurd.
Three senators, including Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Cory Gardner (R-Colo.), and Rick Scott (R-Fla.), were absent. Paul announced on Sunday that he was diagnosed with the virus, while Gardener and Scott were in self-quarantine.
