Pelosi: House would "absolutely" skip August recess to reach coronavirus stimulus deal
14 July 2020
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) told CNN on Tuesday she would "absolutely" be willing to forego the House's August recess to reach a deal for another relief package to help the country battle the health and economic crises caused by the coronavirus.
The big picture: Pelosi indicated the package would earmark money for coronavirus testing and contact tracing, as well as assistance for state and local governments whose budgets are in dire financial straits due to revenue shortfalls caused by the recession.
What she's saying:
"Oh we absolutely have to. We also have to come to an agreement. The timetable is the timetable of the American people needing their unemployment insurance, their direct payments, their assistance for rent and mortgage foreclosure, forbearance in terms of that. And we need it for states and localities to be able to pay their employees who are meeting the needs of their constituents. And you know what, we need it to open the economy by testing, tracing, treating, isolating."
The other side: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Monday that Senate Republicans will open negotiations with Democrats once they finish their own proposal for the next round of stimulus next week.
- "We shouldn’t lightly add more to the national debt, but I’m predicting that we will have one more rescue package, which we’ll begin to debate and discuss next week," McConnell said at a press conference.
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Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.