Coronavirus US Update: Schumer, Pelosi Urge Paid Sick Leave Amid Trump Tax Cut Plans    

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer have issued a joint statement outlining a list of demands they think should be included in any economic package for a nation fearing a coronavirus epidemic. The demands include paid sick leave, bolstering unemployment insurance, and "widespread and free" testing for COVID-19.

The two Democrat leaders, both ardent foes of the current Republican President Donald Trump, said in the statement, “We are hoping to work with the administration on a coordinated, government-wide plan to respond to the coronavirus. However, President Trump continues to manufacture needless chaos within his administration, and it is hampering the government’s response to the coronavirus outbreak."

The COVID-19 outbreak is causing anxiety in the U.S. financial circles. The stock market has tumbled and other sectors especially the hospitality, cruise, travel, and airline industries have been impacted. Democrats, Republicans and the Trump Administration all have a political stake in the economy and how the health crisis is handled.

Democrats have had a tough year with the failed impeachment of President Trump, a robust economy that works in the President’s favor and the prospect of having a pair of soon to be octogenarian, Caucasian males opposing the “younger” incumbent, who will be 74 at the time of the election.

If the economy is still perceived as strong on election day (Nov. 3), Trump is the likely winner against former President Barack Obama’s VP or an avowed socialist. And while no one is accusing the Democrats of wishing for a widespread deadly pandemic, if it occurs and severely weakens the US economy, the Democratic candidate may have a chance of denying Trump a second term.

A temporary one-year tax cut aimed at the middle-class is being proposed by President Trump. In a recent meeting at the Oval Office with National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow, he urged that Kudlow “get it out by September” putting some extra cash in voter’s pockets just a few months before the election. Trump tweeted, "The Democrats in the House should propose a very simple one-year payroll tax cut. Great for the middle class, great for the USA!"

Kudlow told White House reporters on Friday that the administration is considering “targeted” relief to workers and businesses negatively impacted by the coronavirus. He said, “The story I am trying to tell is a story of timely and targeted microforms of assistance, not gargantuan, across-the-board, throw money at the problem, which has not worked in the past.”

Pelosi and Schumer’s comments in the joint statement included a response to the potential tax package saying, “(we) are demanding that the administration prioritize the health and safety of American workers and their families over corporate interests."

They added, “The administration must move more quickly and seriously to address the severe impacts of the coronavirus on the financial security of America’s families.”

The two sides will undoubtedly continue their bickering right up to election day no matter what path the non-partisan coronavirus chooses to take.