Congressional leaders battle over fourth COVID-19 relief bill

Democratic and Republican leaders agree that another round of coronavirus federal relief is needed – but can’t agree on how the new relief bill will look.

Much of the current squabbling is a result of a Republican push to protect health care workers and businesses from the liability associated with operating during the crisis. Democrats have expressed sharp resistance to the idea of encouraging workers to return to their jobs without any recourse to take should they get infected as a result of attending work.

“Providing some kind of blanket immunity shield is an idea that’s the result of the majority leader’s imaginary bogeyman of a flood of lawsuits, a parade of horribles that is a political ploy,” the Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal said on May 1.