Congress at odds over latest coronavirus stimulus bill
Insight from congressional correspondent Chad Pergram and senior political analyst Brit Hume.
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Fox News senior political analyst Brit Hume criticized Congress Monday for being unable to put politics aside and get a coronavirus relief bill passed.
"Trying to stuff everything you can into a bill that you're sure is going to pass because it has to is standard operating procedure, but not in a national emergency like this. And a very grave one indeed, which is both a health emergency now and an economic emergency as well, caused by the stringent measures that are being taken to try to halt the spread of the virus," Hume said on "Special Report with Bret Baier" Monday.
"So it is a little bit surprising to see this being done, to see what Nancy Pelosi is trying to do with her bill and to see the Senate Democrats stalling and and calling the the efforts to back up corporations ... a slush fund and so on."
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"This is the kind of normal politics you would hope would not occur in an abnormal time like this," Hume added.
Lawmakers clashed on the Senate floor Monday over phase three of a coronavirus response package, with Democrats blocking Republican efforts to advance the massive stimulus bill for the second day in a row.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., introduced her own emergency coronavirus stimulus bill on Monday, leading furious Republicans to argue that much of the proposal contained a progressive wishlist seemingly unrelated to the crisis.
Hume also emphasized one statistic that would impact whether the Trump administration recommends softening the stringent guidelines set by the Centers for Disease Control, as well as state and local leaders.
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"The important number to watch is how many of them [coronavirus patients] die, which gives you an idea of just how dangerous the disease is or is not. And there may come a point when it's [the death rate is] low to the point where people say, 'Look, we can't go on like this. This is unsustainable,'" Hume told Baier. "'It's not as dangerous as here, at least in this country as we feared.' We're succeeding against it and we can begin to reopen businesses and get people to begin to go about their about their normal lives again."
Fox News' Brooke Singman and Gregg Re contributed to this report.
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