US Senate Republicans to draft a new coronavirus response package

The coronavirus or COVID-19 has drastically changed the way many Americans live as cases increase over time. Recently, the Senate Republicans are set to draft their own coronavirus response package.

Politico reports that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced that the Senate will be working as swiftly as possible to draw up a big stimulus package as a response to the coronavirus’s effects on the country’s economy. McConnell promised that the Senators will not leave until they are done with their proposal.

According to Senate Majority Whip John Thune, a lot of Republican Senators are interested in a Trump administration proposal to pay Americans two $1,000 checks to help keep the economy from faltering any further. This measure would reportedly cost $500 billion.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin pitched the proposal to the Senate Republicans over lunch, with the package amounting to over $800 billion. Within that amount, $250 billion in emergency loans would then be assigned to businesses that were affected by the economic crisis. More details of Mnuchin’s plan involved sending checks to every American through the IRS as early as April. However, that may not be fast enough, at least according to some lawmakers in Congress.

Speaking to the press during the lunch, Thune shared that there is “a high level of interest among our members in that idea and seems it might be an area where there’s some common ground with Democrats as well.”

Incidentally, the Senate Democrats have already proposed a similar plan, with a budget of $730 billion in mind to help keep the economy under control. Nevertheless, it appears that both parties are willing to put up a united front in bringing forth a response package as the coronavirus continues to spread.

At the same time, a new report claims that the Trump administration appointees did not take too well the Obama administration’s mandated training for dealing with a possible global epidemic. The scenario used as an example at the time appeared to be oddly similar to the coronavirus pandemic. Apparently, some of the Trump administration appointees questioned the purpose of having to attend, while one member, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, reportedly fell asleep during the training.

A spokesperson for Ross clarified the claim and said that Ross did not fall asleep during the meetings and found the training to be informative.