Pelosi: The Coronavirus Stimulus Bill Was a ‘Down Payment’

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PELOSI: “I think this bill was just a down payment. We had in the house bill $200 billion. The final bill was 150. Neither amount was enough, because again, every single day the need grows. I’ve talked to the chairman of the fed, the Federal Reserve bank, Mr. Powell, Chairman Powell, and asked him to do much more because they have the authority to do so, even more authority, since we passed this bill. But we have to pass another bill that goes to meeting the need more substantially than we have. We have other issues that we have to deal with in the bill in terms of personal protective equipment and osha rules that protect workers. We have to do more on family and medical leave. We have to get people’s visits to the doctor covered. We have to do more in terms of the assault on pensions that was not addressed, but Senator McConnell said we would do it in the next bill. We have to address what happened to the district of Columbia, which was really cruel, that they called it a territory and hence they got several hundred million dollars less in funding. The list goes on about what we have to do. Again, the states, the municipalities, hospitals, and other health serving institutions, need more resources. It’s so self-evident. And I understand the governor’s anger, my own governor, we have big needs in the state of California. Why should the states and why should these hospitals be having questions about whether they’re going to meet the needs, life and death needs? On the subject of ventilators, for example, this is a life and death piece of equipment. This isn’t about, let’s breathe easier with a ventilator. This is about, let’s breathe, period. Yet the president has been casual about the production act that would have called upon industries a while ago to be making this equipment.”