On Monday, for the second time in 24 hours, Senate Democrats blocked an attempt to move a massive new coronavirus relief package bill forward on a 49-46 partisan vote. Sixty votes were needed and reaching that goal is harder for Republicans a five GOP senators are in self-isolation and can’t vote.
Democrats say the bill in question, a GOP proposal, does not provide enough money for individuals, states and hospitals and fails to put enough restrictions on coronavirus-hit industries, like the airlines, that will be able to borrow billions dollars from the federal government.
The GOP bill Senate Democrats have yet to embrace — whose total cost may be as much as $2 trillion before a final deal is struck — is aimed at sending billions of federal dollars to individuals and businesses to try to keep the U.S. economy from collapsing.
