GOP demands foreign spending be cut from COVID relief bill while Democrats threaten government shut down

Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Republican House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy have different visions on how to move forward. While Pelosi was happy to simply increase spending for the direct relief portion of the bill, McCarthy demanded that much of the foreign spending be cut.

This after President Donald Trump slammed the coronavirus relief and omnibus spending bills as being too generous to foreign countries while leaving struggling Americans with little.

"Democrats appear to be suffering from selective hearing," McCarthy tweeted on Wednesday.

Under the proposed amendment from Democrats, the entire bill would stay the same except the direct payments to Americans would increase from $600 to $2,000.

McCarthy said that Democrats "have conveniently ignored the concerns expressed by the President, and shared by our constituents, that we ought to reexamine how our tax dollars are spent overseas while so many of our neighbors at home are struggling to make ends meet."

The massive spending package promised billions of dollars in foreign aid, including $1.3 billion for Egypt, $700 million for Sudan, $453 million for Ukraine, and $10 million for "gender programs" in Pakistan. Trump described the bill as "a disgrace."

"Thus, Republicans will offer a unanimous consent request to revisit the State and Foreign Operations title of the Omnibus so that we can full address the concerns at hand," McCarthy said.

President Trump mocked the foreign aid components of the bill in a Wednesday evening tweet, writing "I hope we never find life on other planets because there's no doubt that the U.S. Government will start sending them money!"

Pelosi, however, is pushing for the bill to be accepted by Republicans, tweeting "sign the bill to keep government open!"

The coronavirus relief bill is one of two bills which make up a larger spending package, with the other bill being a spending omnibus bill which defines the federal government's spending over the coming fiscal year.

If a spending bill fails to pass, the US government will enter a shutdown next week. The most recent shutdown from late 2018-2019 lasted 35 days, making it the longest in US history.

Reports suggest that House Democrats plan to reject the Republican spending proposal. If they accept it, however, it still may face stumbling blocks in the Senate, where Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has not expressed interest in larger stimulus handouts.