The
Senate and House of Representatives have already passed four
major bills to address the novel coronavirus outbreak, including
three aimed at stabilizing the economy as most Americans have
sheltered in place and unemployment has soared.
Democrats, who control the House, are pushing for a vote as soon
as next week on another massive coronavirus relief bill that
would include more money for state and local governments,
coronavirus testing and the U.S. Postal Service.
They also have been arguing with Republicans over oversight of
the trillions of dollars being disbursed by the federal
government in response to the crisis, with Republicans charging
that Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi created a
subcommittee on the crisis in order to attack President Donald
Trump as he runs for re-election in November.
The panel made its first official action on Friday, sending
letters demanding that large, public corporations immediately
return taxpayer funds received under the bailout bills, which
were intended for small businesses.
Kudlow, the director of the National Economic Council, told
reporters that formal talks with Congress have paused for May.
"Well we just had another big infusion," Kudlow said with regard
to why there was a pause in talks.
In a separate interview on Bloomberg Television, he said the
Trump administration was making contingency plans for a second
wave of potential cases of COVID-19, the respiratory illness
caused by the novel coronavirus, including later shutdowns.
Public health officials have cautioned against a fast and
widespread restart to economic activity, saying it could lead to
a second spike in infections. The virus has killed nearly 76,000
Americans with more than 1.26 million confirmed cases, according
to a Reuters tally.[nL1N2CQ0Z3]
The U.S. economy lost a staggering 20.5 million jobs in April as
the unemployment rate surged to 14.7%, the Labor Department
reported on Friday.
"No one could look at today’s jobs report, the highest
unemployment since the Great Depression, and say we should hit
the pause button on further government action," Senate
Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement. "We need a
big, bold approach now to support American workers and
families."
(Reporting by Jeff Mason, Lisa Lambert and Patricia Zengerle,
writing by Susan Heavey and Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Chizu
Nomiyama, Chris Reese and Paul Simao)
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