All Americans who want to be vaccinated will be by June, Operation Warp Speed official says
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell urged Congress to pass another round of coronavirus relief before the end of the year and accused his Democratic colleagues of stonewalling and playing a losing game of politics with the desperately needed aid.
In his first floor speech after the Thanksgiving recess, the Kentucky Republican said that while passing legislation to fund the government beyond the December 11 deadline, authorizing defense spending and confirming federal judges remain priorities for the Republican-led chamber, “there’s no reason, none, why we should not deliver another major pandemic relief package to help the American people through what seems poised to be the last chapters of this battle.”
In light of positive vaccine development news, McConnell expressed optimism that “victory over this pandemic is not far off,” but adding “a huge amount of work remains before us.”
He said Congress will need to continue to ensure that the federal government has the funds needed to distribute vaccines nationwide, and he noted that some part of the CARES Act have “run dry” since March, with others due to expire in the coming weeks.
“We Republicans have spent months trying to renew important help and provide even more,” McConnell said, citing the Senate Republican package that was blocked by Democrats earlier in the fall.
McConnell accused House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of playing politics with Covid-19 relief and engaging in “all or nothing obstruction.” But he said this backfired when Democrats lost several House seats in the November election.
“Now it’s abundantly clear to everyone that the Speaker will not be getting to fundamentally transform American society in a socialist direction in exchange for more bipartisan relief. The hostage taking was never going to work,” McConnell said.
McConnell noted that some Democrats have been anxious to pass further relief and framed his party’s own proposal as an ideal template for further relief that could pass on a bipartisan basis.
McConnell also cited Obama administration economic advisor Austan Goolsbee, who told CNN’s Manu Raju on Sunday that congressional Democrats should accept a “half loaf” for now if they can’t get Republicans to go along with a bigger package because the stimulus is needed badly and Democrats could pass the other half early next year.
“Let’s hope our colleagues at the top of the Democratic Party can finally hear their own members and stop blocking the common sense, multi-hundred billion dollar measures that Republicans have been ready to deliver for months,” he said.
