Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., is not budging on liability protections in the GOP coronavirus bill.
"No bill will be put on the Senate floor that does not have liability protections," McConnell told reporters Tuesday.
The GOP relief package includes a five-year COVID-19 liability protection for businesses so they can "spend their next months actually reopening rather than fighting for their lives against frivolous lawsuits," McConnell said Monday while unveiling the HEALS Act.
The protections would be in place as long as businesses made reasonable efforts to comply with public health guidelines and did not engage in "grossly negligent" behavior.
McConnell told CNBC the bill would protect businesses, doctors, universities, and K-12 schools who could get sued unless they were "grossly negligent or caused intentional harm."
Democrats contend liability protection should prioritize worker safety, not corporate America.
"It seems to me that Sen. McConnell really doesn't want to get an agreement made," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., told reporters Tuesday.
"He made comments on liability that it was his way," she added. "It wasn't a good way for us to start the discussion this afternoon. We were going to meet again tomorrow. What the leader said today sound like a person who had no interest in having an agreement."
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.