Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Tuesday sought to heighten the pressure on Republicans to move a new round of coronavirus relief, announcing that the House will return to the Capitol next month to vote on another aid package if a bipartisan agreement is struck before the elections.
Pelosi stopped short of promising a House vote on a new emergency stimulus proposal before the chamber recesses at the end of September — a tactic endorsed by a growing number of moderate Democrats concerned about the political optics of leaving Washington without acting to address the health and economic fallout of the deadly pandemic.
Although the House passed the $3.4 trillion HEROES Act in May — a bill ignored by Senate Republicans — conditions on the ground have changed significantly in the four months since then, as the coronavirus death toll approaches 200,000, schools struggle to reopen, and tens of millions of workers remain unemployed. A growing chorus of centrist lawmakers are wary of returning to their districts just weeks before the elections with nothing new to show. Continue reading.