McCarthy Doesn’t Expect Next Coronavirus Relief Package Before August

Tuesday, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) discussed the next coronavirus relief bill, saying he does not expect it to come before the end of July.

McCarthy questioned if Democrats even want a bill, telling CNBC’s “Squawk Box” they will attempt to include items they wanted prior to the coronavirus pandemic rather than coronavirus-related assistance. However, McCarthy said the bill will probably get done “in the first week of August.”

“The challenge will be [do] the Democrats even want to have a bill,” McCarthy stated. “We’ve watched even to something that the nation united around police reform that the Democrats in the Senate stopped it simply because they have this rule in the Senate that they need to go up just to debate the bill. They denied the right even to debate the bill even though they were offered 20 amendments.”

He continued, “One example is they talk about cannabis more than they talk about jobs in that bill. A lot of that were things all they wanted prior to COVID even existing — election reform and others — so, I don’t think that will survive inside any bill. The real focus will be what helps this nation to be sure that we’re safer, what helps the nation to get back to work, what helps our students within schools, and what helps not only just schools but small businesses with liability protection to be able to move forward. I think in that limited scope we can find the things that Republicans and Democrats can unite around that really would be what America is asking for.”

McCarthy was asked if he could get liability protection in the upcoming bill, but the representative from California was unsure because of how House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has held up previous coronavirus relief packages.

“I envision that this bill doesn’t get done by the end of July,” he added. “I envision that same process happens probably with the speaker holding it up trying to get something else into the bill. It will be probably in the first week of August before we make this happen.”

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