10.06.20

Speaker Pelosi Decides Nothing Is Better Than Anything

Republicans Have Tried For Months To Compromise With Democrats, But Speaker Pelosi Has Refused To Budge From Her All-Or-Nothing Demands On Coronavirus Relief

SENATE MAJORITY LEADER MITCH McCONNELL (R-KY): “If Senate Democrats were half as concerned as they say about American families’ healthcare, they would not have filibustered a multi-hundred-billion-dollar proposal for more coronavirus relief just a few weeks ago…. Three weeks ago, every single Senator cast a vote on pre-existing conditions, money for testing, money for vaccines, money for safe schools, money for small businesses, and money for unemployed workers. Fifty-two Republicans voted to pass all these policies. And every single Democrat who showed up voted to filibuster it dead.” (Sen. McConnell, Remarks, 10/06/2020)

  • SEN. McCONNELL: “House Democrats [tried] to save face by introducing yet another multi-trillion-dollar far-left wish list with virtually all the same non-COVID-related poison-pills as their last unserious bill. Speaker Pelosi’s latest offering still does not include a single cent of new money for the Paycheck Protection Program, to help small businesses that are going under. It does nothing to help schools, universities, doctors, nurses, or employers avoid frivolous lawsuits…. They still want to send taxpayer-funded stimulus checks to people in our country illegally. They still want to hand a massively-expensive tax cut to millionaires and billionaires in places like New York City and San Francisco. A pet priority of the Speaker and the Democratic Leader that would do nothing to help working families through this pandemic. All of these far-left poison pills are still in their recycled bill. They have no intention of making bipartisan law for American families.” (Sen. McConnell, Remarks, 10/06/2020)

 

Speaker Pelosi Has Repeatedly Emphasized Her All-Or-Nothing Policy: ‘Don’t Be Misled By Thinking, Oh, Well, A Little Bit Is Better Than Nothing. No, It Isn’t’

SEPTEMBER 9th: MSNBC’s ANDREA MITCHELL: “Well, is it better to go forward with some...”
HOUSE SPEAKER NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): “No, it isn’t. Now, let me -- thank you so much for that question, because I hear it a lot. And, clearly, it springs from all the good intentions we all have to help people as soon as we can. … So, don’t be misled by thinking, oh, well, a little bit is better than nothing. No, it isn’t.” (MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports,” 9/09/2020)

SEPTEMBER 14th: SPEAKER PELOSI: “Don’t be a cheap date.” (“Democrats, Republicans Point Fingers Over Lack of Coronavirus Aid Bill,” The Wall Street Journal, 9/14/2020)

SEPTEMBER 18th: BLOOMBERG’s DAVID WESTIN: “You mentioned negotiating with the Administration.  The Administration has sent signals, they weren’t very subtle, saying they’re interested in something like $1.5 trillion compromise, which would have, as I understand it, $450 a week – not $600, but $450 a week for people for at least eight weeks, and would have $500 billion for the states.  Not the $900 [billion] you asked for, but not the $100 [billion] the Republicans have said.  Isn’t something better than nothing?”
SPEAKER PELOSI: “No.” (Bloomberg, 9/18/2020)

OCTOBER 1st: SPEAKER PELOSI: “And so, when people say, as some of you do, ‘Isn’t something better than nothing?’ No.” (Bloomberg, 10/01/2020)

OCTOBER 1st: SPEAKER PELOSI: “And some of you have asked, isn’t something better than nothing? No. There can be an opportunity cost that says we’re rewarding the wealthy because they’re wealthy, they’re successful, at the expense of the poor.” (Speaker Pelosi, Press Conference, 10/01/2020)

OCTOBER 2nd: SPEAKER PELOSI: “But again, we’re not just taking the path of least resistance because everybody says, ‘Just take something, something is better than nothing.’ No…” (MSNBC, 10/02/2020)

Speaker Pelosi Also Reiterated That Democrat Leaders Wouldn’t Offer Policy Compromises To Get Relief To Americans: ‘We Didn’t Cut Things Out We Just Brought It Down’

SPEAKER PELOSI: “[W]here we could perhaps change the timing so it’s less money now. That’s how we were able to come down. We didn’t cut things out we just brought it down. … And we came down $1.2 trillion, and we think we can negotiate within that …” (MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” 9/16/2020)

 

FLASHBACK: A Month Ago, Every Present Senate Democrat Voted To Block Moving Forward On A Targeted COVID Relief Bill

46 Democrats voted to block Senate action on the relief bill. (S.178, Roll Call Vote #168: Motion Rejected: R: 52-1; D: 0-44; I: 0-2, 9/10/2020)

The Hill: “Senate Democrats block GOP relief bill” (“Senate Democrats Block GOP Relief Bill,” The Hill, 9/10/2020)

 

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SENATE REPUBLICAN COMMUNICATIONS CENTER

Related Issues: COVID-19, Education, Health Care, Small Business, Senate Democrats, Economy, Appropriations