Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) shot down House Democrats’ emergency response package for COVID-19 on Thursday, lambasting the legislation as “an ideological wish list that was not tailored closely to the circumstances.”
“As currently drafted, the proposal appears to impose permanent unfunded mandates on businesses that could cause massive job losses and put thousands of small businesses at risk,” McConnell said during a speech on the Senate floor.
He accused the Democratic House majority of handling the crisis in a partisan manner, saying that “left-wing political messaging may have taken priority over the needs of our country.”
The GOP leader called on his Democratic colleagues to pass “smaller, non-controversial” measures.
The House bill, which Democrats had passed earlier on Thursday, would require employers to provide paid sick leave and health insurance companies to provide free testing for the coronavirus. It would also provide $1.3 billion in food aid funding for low-income individuals, along with an extra $1 billion for workers who are temporarily unemployed due to their employers asking them to stay home.
Watch McConnell below:
