House Democrats on Thursday night passed their scaled-backed $2.2 trillion coronavirus aid package as top-level talks to deliver a bipartisan deal drag on.
The measure passed by a 214-207 vote with no Republicans in support and 18 Democratic defections.
The move puts lawmakers no closer to actually delivering aid as the White House and Senate Republicans oppose the bill’s high price tag.
The passage comes as coronavirus aid negotiations resumed this week between House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.
But, as of Thursday, a deal between the two sides was not in the cards.
The Trump administration on Wednesday proposed their own $1.6 trillion package with concessions, including a $400-per-week pandemic jobless benefit.
“We raised our offer to $1.6 trillion,” White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany told reporters Thursday. “It’s one that she is not interested in,” she said, referring to Pelosi.
The weekly jobless pandemic benefit in the House’s $2.2 trillion bill would revive the old $600-a-week rate. It would also, among other things, deliver another round of stimulus checks to most Americans, send $436 billion to state and local governments and $225 billion to colleges and universities.
With Post wires
