McConnell Says Aid Package Needs To Pass This Year

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, said Wednesday that Congress should pass the $ 500,000 economic stimulus package for the pandemic,

, before let the year end.

"We need another economic rescue package ... I think we have to do it and we have to do it before the end of the year," McConnell said in the morning during an event in Louisville, Kentucky, in which he celebrated the election results that confirm him to be reelected in the Senate.

The two parties and the White House have not reached an agreement after almost half a year of negotiations.

While Republican lawmakers insist on protections for small and medium-sized businesses and a tighter budget, Democrats seek financial help for local governments in a more expensive package.

Negotiations for a new stimulus package for the pandemic still do not reach a solution

Oct. 26, 202000: 29

The

updated $ 2.1 trillion

, $ 1 trillion less than originally raised,

on more generous terms than the first round, with dependents eligible for payments of $ 500. dollars, for example.

In addition to funds to rescue the finances of cities and states.

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McConnel's $ 500 billion initiative

includes higher unemployment benefits and more help for small businesses.

But prominently, the bill

.

"We could particularly target it at the small businesses that are struggling and the hospitals that are now dealing with the second wave of the coronavirus and, of course, the challenges for education, both preschool and college," McConnell added Wednesday.

The senator's remarks come while the votes are still being counted to determine the election results and it is not known whether the President, Donald Trump, or former Vice President Joe Biden will occupy the White House.

In Congress, Democrats will retain control of the Lower House and while the Senate has yet to decide, Republicans have managed to retain several key seats.

In this possible scenario of a divided government,

like that of the Democrats, which includes a check for $ 1,200 per person and unemployment benefits,

.

[Negotiations for a second check for $ 1,200 have taken five months.

Why is aid still an uncertainty?]

Without a Democratic majority in the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, Democrat of California, and McConnell would have to settle their differences, which would mean re-raising aid to the states and direct stimuli in the face of the demand Republican to limit spending.

Trump expressed his desire to pass a $ 1.9 trillion stimulus package that included a $ 1,200 check after the election, but it is unclear whether he would be willing to support that plan should Biden win the presidency and take office. on January 20, 2021.