Democrat House Speaker Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) sought on Wednesday to deflect blame for the Democrats stalling to replenish funds in the Paycheck Protection Program by claiming that it was really the Republicans who stalled the funding, which is not true.
“We’re very pleased that the Senate finally accepted the fact that we needed more money for testing, for hospitals, for lower, smaller businesses to participate in the Paycheck Protection Program,” Pelosi claimed. “It took them, that took them a couple of weeks, but they finally did.”
“Mitch McConnell likes to say we delayed the bill. No, he delayed the bill,” Pelosi falsely claimed. “So we were very pleased that he finally came around to the fact that we had to go forward with this. So he was the one wasting time. I say that because I keep hearing him say we delayed. No, he delayed.”
Pelosi’s claims are not true.
In fact, a little over a week ago, Pelosi praised Senate Democrats for refusing to pass legislation to replenish funding for the PPP.
“So, last week when they came with, they asked for a quarter of a trillion dollars in 48 hours and I said, well I don’t think so, let’s see how we can open this up to many more people,” Pelosi said. “So, Chuck Schumer and I and – this all happened on the Senate side and I congratulate the Senate Democrats, they went to the floor when Mitch McConnell went in for his 250 and they said they objected.”
Nancy Pelosi: “I congratulate the Senate Democrats” for objecting to $250 billion in small business reliefhttps://t.co/IdRmdfgYwx pic.twitter.com/KDT9tZZ8b3
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) April 15, 2020
The Daily Wire reported on Pelosi’s comments blaming Republicans earlier on Wednesday:
McConnell, of course, wanted a clean funding bill for the PPP — $250 billion in funding for the emptying program, so that it could continue operating in the interim between coronavirus relief plans. Democrats, sensing desperation, demanded the bill include a number of additional provisions, including money for hospitals, health care facilities, and state and local governments — all of which received a share of the $2.2 trillion CARES act that passed two weeks ago.
McConnell, unable to get the measure passed by unanimous consent in the Senate, was forced to negotiate — a situation that ultimately doubled the cost of the bill.
Last week, just two days before the PPP ran out of money completely, Pelosi was captured on tape in her weekly press conference suggesting that there was “no data” to support the idea that the PPP required a quick cash infusion. On Thursday, before the end of the day, the fund ran out of money.
“Senate Republicans wanted more funding for Americans’ paychecks nearly two weeks ago, before the program even shut down. But in the days that our Democratic colleagues delayed these urgent funds, additional federal help for hospitals, healthcare providers, and testing became timely as well,” McConnell said. “Republicans have always supported more medical funding as soon as necessary. So I am proud this package will provide roughly $75 billion more to fund hospitals and healthcare providers in this crisis.”
“It’s unfortunate that it took our Democratic colleagues 12 days to agree to a deal that contains essentially nothing that Republicans ever opposed,” McConnell continued. “In my view it is indefensible that Main Street small businesses and their workers had their assistance cut off for partisan ‘leverage.’ That was the word of choice for one leading House Democrat – ‘leverage.’”
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