WASHINGTON D.C. (WHTC-AM/FM) – As lawmakers are back on Capitol Hill, one of the items on the “front burner” is another stimulus package stemming from the COVID 19 outbreak.
The focus is currently on the Senate, where Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin conferred on Tuesday with leaders of both parties on what they would like to see in the legislation, including another direct check to taxpayers, a payroll tax cut, and an extension of the extra $600 weekly unemployment benefits with tens of millions of Americans out of work.
Awaiting developments from the Upper Chamber is Representative Fred Upton of St. Joseph. “Everyone fully expects that we’re going to get a package done before we adjourn for the summer, and who knows how long that will be,” the Republican Congressman said on “WHTC Morning News” during his weekly interview on Tuesday. “I just hope that the ‘red lines’ aren’t so harsh that we can’t come together.”
Opening remarks on the Senate floor Tuesday may damper Upton’s hopes, for while Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said that the next stimulus bill should have solutions that are real and targeted, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York countered that Republican efforts are “too little, too late.”
