A top Democrat said Wednesday the House could return next week to pass a major economic aid bill aimed at providing more than $1 trillion in local aid, bonus pay for front-line workers, and a bailout of U.S. Postal Service debt.
“We’ve been hard at work on this for a number of weeks,” House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer told reporters Wednesday. “Once the legislation is ready for discussion and presentation to the floor, I expect members will return to the Capitol to vote on it.“
House Democrats are planning legislation at odds with the Senate, which is run by Republicans. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has no immediate plans to take up another major aid package until lawmakers can assess the impact of the $2.8 billion in federal aid signed into law over the past several weeks.
House Democrats are nonetheless pushing ahead with another major spending measure.
Hoyer told reporters the legislation could be ready “as early as next week,” if Democrats reach a consensus with their rank and file on the contents of the measure.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters last week the bill would provide at least $1 trillion in state and local aid, including federal money for Medicaid.
Half of that funding would go to the states, Hoyer told reporters Wednesday. ”We also believe that the very small entities also need some assistance, and that may well be included as well,” the Maryland Democrat said.
The House bill will include much more, Hoyer said.
Democrats want federal funding for states to implement elections by mail, which he said “are now, in our opinion, required for the safety of voters.”
The measure will incorporate some of the provisions Pelosi introduced in a Democratic aid proposal that was mostly excluded from a $2.2 trillion economic aid package Congress passed in March.
Among those provisions is a $25 billion bailout of the financially troubled U.S. Postal Service, “which is even more essential now that we are living in a distance environment,” Hoyer said.
Democrats are also likely to include bonus or “hazard” pay for front-line coronavirus workers, including healthcare and grocery store employees, as well as funding to expand food stamp benefits and to cover rent and mortgage payments.
Hoyer said “the No. 1 priority” in the measure will be to provide more federal aid to state, local, and tribal governments.
The House has been in recess since mid-March, returning briefly for two emergency sessions to pass coronavirus aid packages.
