Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders dodged a question from ABC’s Jon Karl on Sunday morning’s “This Week” about whether it was “a mistake” for Democrats to turn down Republicans’ initial $1.8 trillion coronavirus stimulus offer.
After months of stalled negotiations that included Democrats turning down the $1.8 trillion offer from Republicans, both parties agreed on Dec. 21 to a package of around $900 billion.
“This is a $900 billion bill,” Karl told Sanders. “The administration before the election had proposed a $1.8 trillion bill and Democrats wouldn’t move on it. Was that a mistake in hindsight? Should Democrats have taken them up on the offer of a $1.8 trillion relief bill?”
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Instead of answering Karl’s question directly, Sanders stated that the current bill “is simply not enough.”
“We should have been talking about at least double that, maybe even more,” he said before suggesting that the bill should have been more like the $2.2 trillion stimulus bill passed in March.
Sanders went on to predict that President-elect Joe Biden would be “following up on what we’re doing here” if “we can get through this Trump administration in the next few weeks without doing terrible harm to the American people.” (RELATED: Trey Gowdy Blasts Pelosi For COVID-19 Relief Comment: ‘What She Just Said Makes Me Madder Than Hell’)
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Democratic Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin have both admitted that Democrats previous intransigence and current willingness to compromise at least in part had to do with the then-upcoming election.