During a press conference on Tuesday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) rejected Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s pitch to “set aside” liability protection and funding for state and local governments in coronavirus relief negotiations.
Schumer said, “Sen. McConnell has put the jobs of firefighters, ambulance workers, sanitation officers, and police officers in jeopardy. Every governor and mayor across the country has been fighting to keep these people working and McConnell is pulling the rug out from under them. When a worker is laid off from a state or local government, it’s no different than when a worker is laid off from a small business. They each have to feed their families, pay the rent or mortgage, and just have enough wherewithal, enough dollars to survive. The state and local funding provisions have broad, bipartisan support from the National Governors Association and within the Senate. Many Republicans support state and local funding. State and local funding is bipartisan, unlike the extreme corporate liability proposal Leader McConnell made, which has no Democratic support.”
He continued, “Leader McConnell has refused to be part of the negotiations. Leader McConnell has refused to be part of the bipartisan negotiations, and now he’s sabotaging good faith, bipartisan negotiations because his partisan, ideological effort is not getting a good reception. Sen. McConnell is trying to pull the rug out from beneath the gang of eight. We believe they have been making good progress and they ought to be allowed to move forward. Because they are the best hope for a bipartisan solution.”
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