Second Stimulus Package Debate: House Democrats And Republicans To Engage In A Compromise To Speed Up Negotiations

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second stimulus package

The second stimulus package is long overdue. Amidst the coronavirus pandemic, the American public has been looking forward to the second relief package for a long time but in vain as the negotiations get stalled by partisan deadlocks around this issue.

However, House Democrats are now attempting to break this deadlock by coming up with a scaled-back second stimulus package and opening negotiations with fellow Republicans.

Negotiations Are Likely To Begin After Democrats Make A Compromised Proposal

The proposal that is presently being assembled by committee chairs is expected to be roughly $2.4 trillion. This is a considerable compromise between the HEROES ($3 trillion) and the HEALS ($1 trillion) Act proposed by Democrats and Republicans respectively. This has become a new sign of movement towards finalizing a deal for the second stimulus package.

Millions of Americans are looking for this relief package desperately but the negotiations on the deal have been going on for about 6 weeks now. This is high time that this move towards fresh negotiations was taken to put a second stimulus package in place.

Will There Finally Be A Second Stimulus Package?

Dan Kildee of Michigan, a Democratic Congressman mentions that when there are pending negotiations between $2.2 trillion and $1.5 trillion, it can be assumed that we’re finally in the “deal-making territory”.

Nancy Pelosi informed Democratic leaders the second stimulus package will include direct payments, financial aid for domestic airline industry and restaurants, and loan-funding to support small businesses.

Pelosi also stated the House is ready for the new coronavirus stimulus package and can vote on it as early as the next week even without Republicans.

Talking on the lines of Pelosi, Richard Neal, Democratic Congressman, Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee mentions on Thursday that the voting regarding the second relief bill might take place before the October recess. He further states that the contours of the package are already present. The final deal is what is pending.

Another Congressman, Max Rose of New York mentions that “Cautious optimism” should be maintained. This comes after Republicans criticize the compromised proposal placed before the House as a “non-starter”. They further mention that the plan will possibly die in the Senate. 

However, Rhode Island Congressman David Cicilline mentions that the compromised deal is to put forth the idea that the House is serious about ending the deadlock and reach a final decision on the second stimulus bill.

Both the political parties have constantly blamed each other for their failure to come up with a plan to relieve the American public. However, it seems that such steps might finally lead to the second stimulus package.