All sides in the negotiations on an additional coronavirus release package spoke with reporters on the current state of the talks. First up, Senate Republican leaders. [indistinct chatter] senator mcconnell good afternoon. It will not surprise any of you to know that we spent the lunch with secretary mnuchin and mark meadows discussing their discussions with the speaker and the democratic leader, which will resume this afternoon. As all of you have already written, the pattern is they meet and then mnuchin and meadows come by my office and they talk about what transpired. I think they have said theres not a lot of movement yet. But a feeling that seems to have been expressed that we would like to get an outcome. I certainly hope we can. The coronavirus is certainly not over. It is still an enormous problem still affecting communities all across the country. And i think the American People would like to see us working together and getting an outcome, like we did in march and april. Thanks, leader. We all know that back in i dont know exactly what month it was, but several weeks ago the House Democrats passed their 3. 5 trillion heroes act, which at the time it was suggested not just by us but by lots of other folks that it was not a serious effort. The New York Times, the democrat times said this is not a viable piece of legislation. Ever since that time, we have been looking at what we have done already, making an assessment about what is working and what is not working and getting feedback about that. Came up with i think a very targeted fiscally responsible approach to dealing with the crisis that we are now in. And started in good faith suggesting to democrats it is time to start negotiating the next phase of the relief bill. They responded pass the heroes act. Mnuchin and meadows have been trying to sit down with them and come up with a reasonable common sense solution to moving us forward in dealing with this crisis. Their response has been pass the heroes act. So last week ron johnson came up extend thea to unemployment benefit and to make sure those still unemployed continue to receive a plussed up benefit, not at what it was, and the democrat response was to pass the heroes act. So Martha Mcsally came with a oneweek extension of the existing 600 bonus and the democrat response was pass the heroes act. I think it is pretty clear and should be clear to the democrats, we are not going to pass the heroes act. It is not a serious piece of legislation. But we think that there is Common Ground that we can find. If they are serious about coming up with the next phase of coronavirus relief, and it is targeted and fiscally responsible and it addressed the needs that are out there among the American People when it comes to health care, schools and getting people back to work, creating jobs. We hope they will get serious about it. Republicans are. We hope democrats will give up on this futile idea of trying pass the heroes act and actually sit down in good faith try to negotiate a real solution. The democrats once again are providing a roadblock to progress in our country. Nancy pelosi and her deputy, Chuck Schumer continue to say no a deal. Greement, no to because it appears to me that for the democrats in those two in particular, it is all politics, all of the time. I am convinced they actually dont want an agreement. That they dont care what the consequences are for the American People. Weve all been home. We have been traveling over states, talking to people and listening to what they really want in a piece of legislation. What im hearing is people want a path forward with regard to the disease, testing, treatment, a vaccine. They also want safety. Ways to make sure there is money for states and communities to safely open the schools. Get kids back to school. And Common Sense Solutions like these are things that the republicans are going to continue to propose in spite of what nancy pelosi continues to do. Talking about her 3 trillion fantasy island bill. Which seems to be listening to her, her way or the highway. My way or nothing else is what nancy pelosi says to the point. Senator thune made reference. When this thing passed the house, the New York Times so everyone can see it this is what the New York Times said. This bill was more a messaging document than a viable piece of legislation. It was never intended as a viable piece of legislation. So as we travel around our home states and we talk to people, no one comes up to us and says why dont you pass something that gives tax breaks to millionaires and billionaires in california or new york . No one comes up to us and says why dont you pass a bill that provides bailout for new york or illinois . No one comes up to us and says why dont you help the people selling pot to have Better Banking opportunities . No one says you need 50 million more for Environmental Justice or 10 million for the National Endowment for the arts. And i will tell you, that is just the tip of the iceberg in what is a Nancy Pelosis 3 trillion bill. Coronavirus is not a time for the democrats to continue with their runaway spending. This is a time to focus on the path for the future. Of helping people with the disease, getting kids back to school and get americans back to work. Lets go ahead and talk about the heroes act just a little bit more right about that same time, when the act came out, one estimate was that one third of what was in the heroes act had nothing to do with coronavirus. 900 billion, almost another trillion dollars was state and local assistance. Obviously, something we dont agree on but can be negotiated. The other 1 trillion we are probably pretty close on. We will never beat our friends the democrats when it comes to willingness to spend money. On back to school, which by the way for lots of schools starts next week. A number of schools around the country start next week. If you are going to help people get back to school, you need to help them right away. They had 100 billion in the heroes act. We had 105 billion in our bill. The democrats said weimer off a little bit. We need 400 billion, not 100 billion. We are not going to win that spending fight. But when both of us and put pencil to paper, we both came up with about 100 billion. We have 15 billion to help childcare. They had 7. 5 billion. 7the real numbers are billion or 15 billion, we should be able to work this out. People are going back to school, people want to go back to work. They cannot do either one without getting back to childcare. We need to solve these problems. We dont need to sell them 90 days after they needed to be solved. We need to solve them right now and i hope we can. This week our schools back in iowa are finalizing their plans. They are present in those plans to superintendents, they are laying out the classrooms and how that will work when our kiddos go back. Mom and dad are figuring out can i go back to work . Do we have childcare for those children so that they will be in a situation where they are learning and not left to their own devices at home . We still do have a lot of folks that are unemployed in iowa and we dont know if those businesses will reopen or do that safely right away. We still have folks that need support. What i am asking is that the democrats give up this my way or the highway attitude and winner take all and come to the table. We need our friends over the aisle to sit down with us about the differences we have between the heroes act, which is a 3 trillion boondoggle. One third of that spending not even related to covid. Sit down with us and lets figure out what our constituents actually need to get through this pandemic, what they actually need to help their children go back to school, what they actually need to become employed again. Those conversations are not happening because they are so set on the heroes act and 3 trillion that they are willing to push away any negotiations offered by republicans. Folks, weve got to get over this. Weve got to get over this. Lets sit down and do it the right way. Thank you. Republicans are intently focused on doing what we can to staunch this coronavirus and get our workers and our students back to work and school as quickly as possible. That is what the American People want us to do. Unfortunately democrats have been foot dragging. They seem to be playing politics during this critical time for our country instead of solving problems in a bipartisan way. Nancy pelosi and far left democrats are too attentive to november and not attentive enough to what is happening here and now. There are people hurting. People out of work who are anxious about the future and we need to come together. Just yesterday, over 100 Major Business executives, very prominent names like howard schultz, indicated that our Small Businesses in particular require additional assistance. They need access to longterm working Capital Loans like senator bennett and i have put forward in our restart act. I will quote from the letter signed by over 100 of these prominent business leaders. At this moment of crisis, we urge you to transcend partisanship and form meaningful agreement on an assistance package to help our struggling businesses and in turn tens of millions of americans. The time is now. We are in the middle of one of the worst economic Public Health crises in american history. Lets stop playing games. The democrats need to meet us at least halfway and continue to work on behalf of the American People. Mcconnell, i know there have been a variety of proposals, but at this point what he believed the consensus republican view is on how large the the federal Unemployment Insurance benefits should be per week and how long it should last . Senator mcconnell i think i have made it very clear for some time now, if you are looking for a total consensus among republican senators, you are not going to find it. We do have divisions about what to do. What we are hoping for is a bipartisan proposal negotiated by the president and his team who can sign a bill into law and the democratic majority in the house that can appeal to a certain percentage of republicans to a significant percentage of republicans in the house and senate. That is where we are. On the unemployment issue, we all know it needs to be solved. We dont want expiration to continue. What we have suggested is a shortterm fix, as others have indicated, they have objected to that. A better outcome would be to get to a total solution sooner rather than later. That is what i am encouraging everyone to do on both sides. Isnt part of the challenge with this negotiation that the negotiators know what the democratic negotiating position is, but it is unclear what the republican position is . Senator mcconnell no, that is not the big challenge at all. I am not anticipating a 100 to nothing vote in the senate this time. I said that at the very beginning. I dont think we will have a total consensus in this round. The atmosphere is much more partisan than it was back in march and april. That much closer to the election. So i dont think the definition of success here is whether we have a unanimous vote. I think the definition of success is, is the product something that will actually make a difference . Liability protection, kids back in school, ppp replenished, healthcare, something that would actually make a difference. In addition to a solution to this unemployment problem, we know it is going to be unacceptably high for a long time, we have a role to play in that. We argued about just how generous it should be in terms of getting people back to work. And we are advocating sending check to those people who have been really hurt by this. A significant percentage of whom are in the hospitality field. They work for hotels or restaurants. So we are ready to help. As other we can, speakers have pointed out, get rid of the trillion dollar thats unrelated to the problem and hone in on what is directly related to the problem. Reporter nancy pelosi the House Speaker suggested that 600 a week for federal benefits as her is her red line. Do you think a bill with that amount of money for unemployment could pass the senate if the president were to say he wants that too . Senator mcconnell i think im pretty safe to say there plenty of republicans in the senate who may not vote for a package if thats where it ends up. But we know this is going to be a negotiated settlement. I just said its not going to produce a kumbaya moment like we had in march or april where everybody voted aye. But the American People in the end need help. And wherever this thing settles, between the president of the United States and his team that have to sign it into law and the democrats not insignificant majority in the Senate Majority the house is something im prepared to support, even if i have problems with certain parts of it. Thanks, everyone. [indistinct chatter]