President Trump suggested Monday that he’d be open to making some changes to the House-passed coronavirus bill.
“They’re [the Senate] working to only enhance it and make it better and make it fair for everybody,” he said. “We may go back and forth a bit with the House on it but both will be in a very positive fashion.”
The bill still needs to be passed with some technical changes in the House on Monday before it even reaches the Senate — though attempting to pass the updates with a unanimous consent rule can be derailed by just one member.
After a feverish 48 hours of negotiations, just after midnight on Saturday, the House passed a massive relief package to alleviate the pressure on families and hourly workers.
It mandated free testing for the coronavirus, funds more unemployment programs and pays for sick leave for those that contract the virus or need to care for someone that does if they’re at a company with less than 500 employees.
Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin, who helped craft the White House-approved package with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, on Sunday acknowledged there were technical changes that needed to be made before it even reached the Senate.
He said he was speaking with senators, including Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, on Saturday about the bill.
“We are hearing feedback that certain small businesses are concerned about the burden of this,” Mr. Mnuchin said. “I think there’s a lot of bipartisan support. We hope they pass this bill. If not, we’ll work with the center on whatever minor changes we need.”
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