The House leader also told 60 Minutes that there is strong support among the members of Congress to see Trump impeached and rendered unable to run for office again. He can only pardon himself from federal offenses. He cannot pardon himself from state offenses, and that’s where he’s being investigated in the state of New York, Pelosi told CBS s Leslie Stahl. There is a possibility that after all of this, there’s no punishment, no consequence, and he could run again for president, Stahl countered. And that’s one of the motivations people have for advocating for impeachment, the Speaker responded. I like the 25th Amendment because it gets rid of him. He’s out of office. But there’s strong support in the Congress for impeaching the president a second time.
“I want to get done by Friday night, but if we don t get done by Friday night, I don t want to shut down government. And if we need three or four more days, we re going to take as much time as is necessary to fund the government and as well as [bring] relief to those who have been savaged by COVID-19,” Hoyer told reporters.
He added, “Why this takes so long is because we procrastinate and we pretend just one more day and we’ll get a better deal. It’s frustrating.”
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Leadership is wading through a myriad of policy and political fights as they try to wrap up an agreement.
Thune said he expects the package to provide $300 a week in supplemental federal unemployment assistance through March and confirmed that it would not include additional state and local aid funding.
The senator said there could be language in the deal aimed at addressing concerns that people who receive both enhanced unemployment benefits and stimulus checks would be getting a double benefit. Tax experts said that it would be difficult for the IRS to administer a provision that prevents unemployment recipients from getting direct payments.
Thune said the plan for the House to act on the combined COVID relief-omnibus spending package first and send it to the Senate to pass before the Friday night deadline.
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The Hill’s 12:30 Report: Congress nears coronavirus relief deal, adds stimulus checks | What we know about the negotiations | Senate GOP sends message to Trump that the election is over | Trump lashes out at McConnell | Says ‘people are angry’ | White House seeks more Pfizer vaccine doses | FDA authorizes rapid home COVID-19 test | Senate holds hearing on 2020 election security