By Blake Haas

BLOOMINGTON – A second Coronavirus stimulus bill is turning into a “typical Washington D.C. parlor game,’ according to U.S. Representative Rodney Davis.

Speaking with WJBC’s Scott Miller, the Taylorville Republican said the majority of the problem is House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

“We need to see a package. We need to see one that’s going to pass. This is a typical Washington D.C. parlor game where you have (Speaker) Nancy Pelosi (D-Cali), who just a few days ago admitted that she didn’t want to help struggling Americans and mom and pop shops still recover from this extended pandemic because she wanted to see who the next President was going to be. She thought she was going to pick up seats in Congress, and she didn’t.”

At the end of November, a group of bipartisan lawmakers proposed a $908 billion package later shot down by Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) due to a lack of a “targeted bill.”

“She (Speaker Pelosi) has been saying to the White House, ‘come back to the table, give us your proposal. Give us your proposal.’ They (Republicans) throw a proposal out, and instead of putting it up for a vote on the floor, she pulls one provision out that she doesn’t like, and that’s the question that we get from members of the media both at home and here.

“I would say look at the entirety of the package. Look how close we are to actually help struggling businesses facing new lockdowns to be able to survive and giving them access to existing PPP (Paycheck Protection Program) billions that are just sitting out there. I would say to Speaker Pelosi, ‘put the Trump proposal out there, put whatever proposal you want on the floor and let’s vote it out.”

Around $300 billion remains unused from the first COVID-19 pandemic relief funds that President Trump says should go to Americans in the form of direct payments.

Since the election, McConnell and Pelosi have yet to hold talks on a COVID-19 relief bill.

Blake Haas can be reached at [email protected].