GOP ‘Skinny Aid Package’ Fails To Get A Vote In Senate

Legislation supporters say would have provided $20 billion in pandemic farm aid, failed last week, after Senate Democrats used a filibuster to hold off a vote. Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell said the GOP lacked the 60 votes needed to break a filibuster on their so called “Skinny Aid Package”, so the legislation failed to get a vote by the end of the week.

“Once this bill goes down, we’ll be right where we started at the start of the week, waiting for our Republican colleagues to wake up to the size of the crisis in our country and work with us on a bill that actually makes sense" noted Top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer. "We want to work on a bipartisan bill."

However, negotiations with the White House broke down last month, leaving no clear pathway forward. Republicans claim under their “Skinny Bill” the farm sector was slated to receive another $20 billion in direct aid, plus another round of the Paycheck Protection Program.

American Farm Bureau Federation officials said they hope to leverage added virus help for producers by replenishing Commodity Credit Corporation funding in a stop-gap budget resolution that lawmakers must pass by the end of the month to keep the government open.

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