HOUSE Speaker Nancy Pelosi has been accused of purposely blocking coronavirus stimulus money in an effort to stop Donald Trump from getting re-elected.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy made the startling claim about Pelosi to reporters during a press conference on Capitol Hill on Thursday.
“The speaker of this House has denied the ability to [get] help to the American public, simply because she wanted to determine something would happen in the election, to harm President Trump and him getting re-elected,” McCarthy said.
“But what has happened is American people are hurting. That has got to stop.”
McCarthy, a Republican who represents California, criticized Democrats for looking at other issues instead of focusing on a stimulus package.
As noted by Fox News, the main bill on the floor of the House of Representatives this week is a measure to “end a federal ban on marijuana and require courts to expunge prior marijuana convictions.”
Legislators are also looking at the Big Cat Public Safety Act – which would ban anyone from owning big cats.
The latter bill was sparked by Tiger King, a wild documentary series that aired on Netflix earlier this year.
McCarthy said on Thursday: “Democrats have focused on cats and cannabis, but not on Covid.”
“You’d think after a humiliating defeat in the ballot box this year … that Democrats would get the picture that Americans are demanding some action on these issues.”
Democrats, including President-elect Joe Biden, announced on Wednesday that they were open to a bipartisan coronavirus relief bill.
For months, Democrats have said they wouldn’t budge on the $2.2trillion relief bill they already passed.
But Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer embraced a $908billion economic relief bill to start negotiations.
The bill would establish a $300 per week jobless benefit, send $160billion to help state and local governments, boost schools and universities, revive popular “paycheck protection” subsidies for businesses, and bail out transit systems and airlines.
The deal doesn’t include another round of stimulus checks.
Pelosi and Schumer’s announcement appeared to be aimed at budging Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell – who so far has been unwilling to abandon a $550billion Senate GOP plan that has failed twice this fall.
“In the spirit of compromise, we believe the bipartisan framework introduced by Senators yesterday should be used as the basis for immediate bipartisan, bicameral negotiations,” they wrote.
“Of course, we and others will offer improvements, but the need to act is immediate and we believe that with good-faith negotiations we could come to an agreement.”
Biden said the developing aid package “wouldn’t be the answer, but it would be the immediate help for a lot of things.”
He wants a relief bill to pass Congress now, with more aid to come next year.
