Only moments ago, every Senate Democrat voted to block critical funding intended for Americans faced with the fallout from the coronavirus. It’s almost like Democrats don’t care about the crisis America is facing. It’s almost like they’re willing to roll the dice to see if their actions can hurt Trump’s chances of re-election.

The economic relief package was worth more than $2 trillion.

The Washington Examiner – Lawmakers and the Trump administration hoped to send a positive message to unstable stock markets and to Americans worried about the decimated economy and the job losses caused by the spread of the virus.

The measure includes sending direct cash payments that would average about $3,000 per family and expanding unemployment insurance, as well as $350 billion in aid to struggling small businesses. It also provides $500 billion in loans to industries hurt by the economic slowdown.

But Democrats are holding out for big changes to the bill, which they argue creates a “slush fund” for big industries and lacks sufficient protections for workers. They voted against a procedural bill to start debate on the bill, which Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell hoped to pass by Monday.

The Phase 3 COVID-19 economic stimulus bill needed 60 votes to pass. Every Democrat Senator voted “no.” Senator McConnell switched his vote to no, allowing for 2nd vote. 5Rs Gardner-CO, Lee-UT, Paul-KY, Romney-UT & Scott-FL are in self-quarantine & missed the vote.

CSPAN Capitol Hill reporter Craig Caplan reported on the vote:

Fox News’ Chad Pergram is reporting the Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell ripped into Democrats on the floor. According to Pergram, Senator McConnell (R-KY) specifically called out the divisive House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Pergram claims this is as angry as we’ve ever seen him on the floor.

According to Pergram, McConnell is accusing Democrats of playing games with coronavirus funding, calling it utterly absurd.

Pergram tweeted again, quoting McConnell after the vote

We’ll have this cloture vote again at some point ..and hopefully, some adults will show up on the other side of the room and understand the gravity of the situation before the markets go down further…we’ve never been confronted by anything like this before.

According to Pergram, McConnell put Pelosi in her place, saying: McConnell lights up Pelosi on the flr over coronavirus talks: She’s the Speaker of the House. Not the Speaker of the Senate. We don’t have one…the markets are already reacting to this outrageous nonsense. We have an obligation to deal with this..

The failed coronavirus funding vote in the Senate tanked the Wall Street futures.

The Washington Examiner reports – Futures for the S&P 500 fell by 5%, forcing a stop to trading just minutes after trading opened.

Expectations for stocks declined just as the Senate began voting to advance a Republican-authored $2 trillion economic relief bill without Democratic sign-on. Democrats stopped the bill from advancing.

Members of both parties and President Trump had hoped to enact the legislation by Monday. But Democrats said that the GOP bill was too partisan to support. Democrats were seeking to attach more safeguards to federal assistance given to industries hammered by the coronavirus pandemic.

The bill is meant to provide direct cash to families, grants to small businesses that keep employees on the payroll, emergency loans to businesses, and other forms of relief for individuals, industries, and the healthcare system.

Economists are anticipating the unemployment will soar in the weeks ahead as entire sectors shut down to prevent the spread of the virus.

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