GOP leader: 'I don't see the need' to give Americans any more help

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy on Tuesday said he didn’t support more coronavirus relief, saying that he doesn’t think it’s needed at the moment.

“I don’t see the need right now,” McCarthy told reporters Tuesday, following a meeting on Capitol Hill with Vice President Mike Pence and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin.

McCarthy’s comment mirrors that of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who said recently that he feels no “urgency” to pass more aid.

The GOP’s rejection of more coronavirus aid comes as more than 36 million Americans have lost their jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Meanwhile, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell predicted that the unemployment rate could hit 25%, higher than the peak of the Great Depression.

Powell said the job losses have hit the neediest Americans the hardest, with 40% of the losses coming from those who make $40,000 a year or less.

Polls also show that even the GOP base wants to see more coronavirus aid, with 73% of those voters saying that coronavirus aid should be a “top priority” for Congress, according to a Morning Consult/Politico poll from earlier in May.

In fact, that poll found that “economic stimulus for COVID-19” is the top priority for all voters, second only to controlling the spread of the coronavirus.

House Democrats, for their part, passed a $3 trillion stimulus package last week that included more direct payments to Americans, among other relief efforts.

However, Donald Trump has vowed to veto the legislation, giving the bill almost no chance of becoming law.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.