The answer to restoring the United States' economy is not by "throwing endless amounts of borrowed money at the problem," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Thursday while addressing complaints he should have focused on another coronavirus relief bill and not approving personnel and judicial appointments.
"We have a lot of different things to do, nominations that have been stalled for at least six weeks if not longer-term so we can do that and we can also think about the way forward," McConnell told Fox News' Dana Perino.
The way forward, he added, is for the economy to safely open up, as the government cannot keep "throwing endless amounts of borrowed money at the problem and hope to fix it."
Earlier Thursday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., slammed McConnell, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., and President Donald Trump for wanting to "wait it out," and he called for "big and bold" action.
"No one is saying we should do nothing; we've been quite busy," McConnell said. "The PPE loans have gone out in massive numbers.
"What I don't hear our Democratic colleagues say anything about is getting back to normal. The government shut the economy down at the state level and was encouraged to do so at the federal level in order to deal with this healthcare pandemic. But now, we need to carefully begin to reopen our economy."
Doing that, he said, "may or may not involve another rescue package. It could well happen, but we need to be more measured in going forward and see how much growth and reinvigoration we can get out of beginning to reopen the economy."
However, McConnell said he does believe there is a need for liability protections for businesses and other entities as the economy opens again.
"It's not just businesses," he said. "We're talking about universities, doctors, hospitals, healthcare workers. There will be an epidemic in its beginning already, of litigation surrounding the pandemic of the coronavirus. As of a week ago, 771 lawsuits have already been filed. The trial lawyers are waiting to go after everybody who tries to get back to normal."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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