Pelosi on next COVID-19 phase: ‘There will be a bill and it will be expensive’

Amid rising GOP concern about the ballooning federal deficit after unprecedented levels of emergency spending, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Friday that there will be another coronavirus stimulus bill, and “it will be expensive." 

"I look forward to doing it as soon as possible because jobs are at stake," the California Democrat said during a press conference. "The health and well-being of the American people are at stake, and the sooner we get this done, the better."

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell recently cited the rising deficit as a reason not to proceed with another coronavirus package after passing three coronavirus relief bills and a $484 billion interim funding bill.

“My view is: We just added another $500 billion to the national debt. Let’s see how things are working, McConnell said. “We need to weigh our obligations vs. [states and cities], since they have taxing authorities as well, and how to divide up the responsibility. So we’re not going to move on another bill related to this subject until we all get back here.”

The estimated size of the CARES Act that Congress passed last month is $2.2 trillion. The deficit is projected to reach a record $4 trillion by the end of the year.

The Democratic-led House passed a spending bill on Thursday that increased the total spending for the Paycheck Protection Program, designed to help small businesses during coronavirus, to $660 billion. The PPP program offers forgivable loans to qualifying businesses.

Pelosi estimated that the size of the next bill, referred to as CARES Act II, would “probably” reach “a number of equivalent to what we have done for small businesses but I don't know.”

She said the bill would contain a large amount of additional federal spending to help states and local governments deal with coronavirus.