“Look, it’s not $ 600 or a bust … (The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy) Pelosi said the other day, that I thought it was a great line:” We don’t have red lines, we have values. “We are entering these securities negotiations, “Hoyer, a Maryland Democrat, told CNN’s John Berman on” New Day. ”
He continued, “Saying $ 600 or nothing, no, that’s not where we are. We are prepared to discuss this. But we are also not prepared to disappoint the American people, disappoint the states, the cities, the local governments that hire people, facing the crisis of this pandemic, including health personnel. ”
“Obviously, having a draconian cut of $ 400 will immediately make it very, very difficult for American families to pay their rent, pay for food, pay their living expenses,” he said. “It is insufficient. It will disappoint the American people and harm the economy.”
“I think that’s an argument, it has some validity. And we should deal with it. And there is a way to deal with it, but not this way, not cold turkey,” said Hoyer.
Later Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell quoted Hoyer’s comments to CNN as he spoke about the Republican proposal during a speech on the floor of the Senate.
“Even the majority leader of the Democratic House said this morning that our perspective, he quotes, ‘has some validity and we should deal with it … it’s not $ 600 or bankruptcy,'” he said. “So let’s get past the cheap partisan shots and have an adult conversation.”
In addition to extending unemployment benefits, Democrats also include $ 1 trillion in state and local funds in their proposal. The funds are a central focus of Democrats in both houses, although the Republicans did not include new funds in their offer, but they did include greater flexibility in using the funds already disbursed in the first aid package.
CNN’s Phil Mattingly and Tami Luhby contributed to this report.
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