Important votes are sidelined by virus.
Hopes of a quick stimulus deal unraveled on Sunday as four major congressional leaders and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin failed to break the impasse. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell delayed the procedural vote for three hours as they tried to get a deal, without success.
The vote eventually moved forward with five key senators absent. Senator Rand Paul tested positive for the virus and is in self-quarantine. Two of his colleagues with whom he had close contact, Utah Senators Mitt Romney and Mike Lee, went into self-quarantine, and Senators Cory Gardner of Colorado and Rick Scott of Florida had previously said they were in self-quarantine as a precaution.
Rhetoric had been bandied about on both sides of the Senate aisle regarding the inability to reach a deal on the coronavirus stimulus bill. A significant challenge has been funding being added for issues that have nothing to do with the pandemic and accusations have been thrown back and forth about the accompanying ideological distractions.
Leader McConnell expressed frustration from the Senate floor after the bill failed, pledging to force the vote again. “The American people are watching this spectacle. I’m told the futures market is down 5 percent. I’m also told that’s when trading stops. So the notion that we have time to play games here with the American economy and the American people is utterly absurd,” he said.
As the Lord Leads, Pray with Us…
- For the senators who have removed themselves from the voting procedure due to self-quarantine, and whether an emergency provision for online voting could be established.
- For senators to avoid the insertion of unrelated provisions into the stimulus legislation, negotiating for a clean virus-related only bill.
- For a quick vote that can then be taken up just as quickly by the House, passed, and send to the president for signature.
Sources: The Hill, Washington Post
