Pelosi: GOP doesn't 'believe in governance,' 'I yearn for other Republican presidents' like Nixon

Pelosi predicts GOP-led Senate will eventually pass $1 trillion for states, extend $600 federal unemployment benefits

Published: July 16, 2020 11:31am

Updated: July 16, 2020 4:05pm

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday slammed the Trump administration for directing hospitals to report coronavirus data to the Department of Health and Human Services, rather than the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"They don't believe in governance," she said at her weekly press conference. "If you don't believe in governance and you don't believe in science, you don't want to do anything and you don't have to because you don't have the data that you accept."

"So we're in a very critical place. I yearn for other Republican presidents. While we may have disagreed on many points, at least we had a shared commitment to the governance of our country. Richard Nixon signed the NEPA [National Environmental Policy Act] legislation," she also said.

Pelosi told reporters the U.S. would ultimately beat coronavirus, but said, "We have to beat it scientifically."

She also predicted that the GOP-led Senate will pass an extension of the $600 weekly federal unemployment benefit along with $1 trillion in increased federal funding for state and local governments.

The federal jobless benefits expire July 31.

The California Democrat emphasized that she's "all for" the $600 weekly benefits and not less. She also supports more direct stimulus payments.

The House-passed $3 trillion HEROES Act included up to $6,000 for a family of five. The measure would allow direct payments for illegal immigrants who filed tax returns with tax ID numbers. It would also give illegal immigrants an additional retroactive round of stimulus payments that they initially did not qualify for in the CARES Act.

The Senate did not vote on the HEROES Act.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said another stimulus package would be the last. He signaled that it might include direct payments as well as state and local government funding along with liability protections for businesses.

Addressing the possibility of giving return-to-work bonuses, as some House Republicans have proposed, Pelosi said, "I don't know if they know what they're talking about."