have a president coming into believes in science nd cares about people and recogniz ofognizes -- values the work our first responders and health us. workers, etc., do with so madam chair, prayerfully, as ou began -- as our chaplain egan, prayerfully i close my remarks, assuring for whatever it's worth, there's many that this body and respect the american people have had a the family because of so many people who have lost ones and we have all >> the u.s. house has reached a deal on a $the00 billion coronavirus economic aid package that will be a part of 2021 federal spending. details are still being hammered out. government funding expires

tonight at midnight. the house is expected back shortly for votes. we'll have live house coverage here on c-span. details some of the announced by senate leadership yesterday when it comes to the total package. billion is the approximate price tag for the new round of relief, including $600 of direct payment for every adult and child with unemployment aid for the self-employed and emergency unemployment compensation also extended for 11 weeks. when it comes to the paycheck protection program for businesses, 284 billion dollars in this new round of spending. when it comes to the $600 payment, here is what fortune magazine had to say about qualifications, quoting a spokesman for senator schumer confirming that the base out would be similar to the spring stimulus package for 2019 with

adjusted growth income host: so, that's just some of the qualifications. much more in this package, we will show you the highlights. this package, what do you think? let us know, (202) 748-8001 republicans. (202) 748-8000 for democrats. independents2 four . you can let us know through other means, text and a post on our facebook page, twitter as well. other details when it comes to this package, that includes $82 billion for colleges and schools. it would extend the eviction moratorium set to expire at the end of this month.

for another month, 25 billion dollars in rental assistance. businesses can apply for $25 million in grants, setting aside $15 million for theaters, music venues and the like. including $9 billion for treasury programs that cater to low income and others -- underserved communities. when it comes to vaccines, those vaccines are expected to hit today and include a series of moneys specifically for vaccines. $8 billion for distribution purposes. $20 billion for state testing. $20 billion for health care providers as well. that's just some of the details in this bill. also expected to be included, funding for the federal government to keep running. the president yesterday citing a 24 hour extension of federal funding to keep the government from shutting down that is expected to be rolled into this package as well.

again, you can let us know what you think about that. and as well the package that was announced yesterday in washington, d.c., daniel on the republican line, what do you think of this announced deal? it's ani think immediate emergency situation, clearly. the first stimulus package, that was a huge amount of money to corporations. this package certainly needs to include help for the average person. that weecommending recall the house members and request they don't vote for nancy pelosi unless they bring to the floor medicaid for all. we need to start looking a little further in the future they in the immediate emergency, which the country is certainly basically a failed state. this package yesterday,

you are saying it doesn't address enough of the issue? well, i'm learning that losey and mcconnell basically control the legislation and we are not getting our representatives, our so-called squad, no one seems to be pushing forward. .e are stifled in the congress the progress of this country is in bad faith. why in the world would democrats in congress pass a 700 and $40 billion defense budget? that's obscene. allen, wisconsin, independent line, high. hey, how's it going? really disappointed with the previous bill -- this stimulus bill. i don't know about failed state,

but the student loan system in this country is catastrophic, it failed and that was true before the pandemic. host: what specifically are you disappointed in about the bill? they need to cancel student loans by executive order . the president can do this and there's no better opportunity to do that than this pandemic. it's by far the cheapest way to stimulate the economy. these ppp loans are going to kostas $1 trillion. the president can cancel all student loan debt, $1.6 trillion without meeting one dime of appropriation from congress and without adding a penny to the national debt. host: ok. that's alan, from wisconsin. when it comes to other opinions, nate from facebook says $600 costs me $6,000 in the future. i would not have taken that deal

if given the choice. no one saved -- no one sane would have. jeff from georgia says stimulus isn't even a drop in the deep could've need. carol and panama city texting us this morning saying it took them long enough and should have been done months ago. twiddling thumbs as people suffer, now the rush to get it done so that they can get home for the holidays is disgusting and not surprising as mcconnell has been the problem from the start. mcconnell taking to the floor in light of the announcement of this deal. both sides talking about how they are glad it was passed, but addressing the politics of the issue behind its package. -- passage. we will start with senate majority leader mitch mcconnell. [video clip] >> from where i stand, from where senate republicans stand, there's no reason this urgent package couldn't have been signed into law multiple months ago.

for months senate republicans have consistently supported a targeted rescue package under $1 trillion focused on the same kinds of policies we have stumbled on today. as far back as july. republicans have consistently supported a targeted package right in the ballpark of this total amount, with exactly the same kinds of policies in the mix. the package that will shortly become law falls exactly within the ballpark of what senate republicans have been proposing and trying to pass since last summer. >> by all rights, a bill of this urgency should have passed months ago, eight months ago. the country needed it. we all know what happened. the republican majority caused more than eight months of delay and rely -- delay and greed -- delay and gridlock. 20 members of the senate

majority wanted no money. the republican leader cynthia forgets for months that he said we should examine the crisis, put it on pause while democrats were demanding more action. idea that this delay was caused by democrats is alice in wonderland history. it was caused by a republican majority the didn't want to vote for money desperately needed by the american people. host: and that was the senate minority leader, chuck schumer, also commenting on the passage of the agreement that was reached in the politics behind it. the senate and the house today in reportedly to vote on this package, with the house coming in at 9:00 this morning. texas,om brownsville, democratic line, you are next. caller: pedro, hello. american people, moscow mitch, mitch mcconnell, with this

stimulus bill, he basically wants to keep the power in the senate. he knows darn well that if all soft and warnick win in georgia, he's going to lose power. you have to understand, the republicans in georgia, they are corrupt. they are traders. i'm not saying traders like traders and becoming powerful. i'm talking about greed. host: you are saying the deal was done to help the georgia street -- georgia situation specifically? caller: of course. mitch mcconnell is corrupt. how many decades? host: what convinces you that those things are connected? well, mitch mcconnell, , hehow long, 99 months

didn't want to pass the stimulus bill. they are doing it because mitch mcconnell knows about georgia. off.i said earlier, also andll soft -- ossoff warnick win, his power will be gone. host: all right. republican mind, good morning. caller: thank you for taking my call. this should have been passed along time ago. pelosi the one that's been holding it up. not the senate. chuck schumer, he needs to get a new speechwriter. his speeches are getting really old, blaming everybody except to the blame is. do you blame speaker pelosi on this one? well, she wants money

for stuff that has nothing to do with this current situation. people are out there losing their businesses, they can't feed their kids. they need this money and instead she wants to prop up these failed pension plans in these failed democratic states and cities. they need the money and they need it now. host: are you concerned about the overall spending price of this package, almost $1 trillion? well, they supposedly put money in there that wasn't spent from the first bill that was passed. as a republican conservative, i am concerned that the republicans are doing for the democrats to, throw money at everything. but we got people hurt and -- hurtin in this country. they need the money and they need it now. about the passage of this

bill, yesterday, "more will be looked at come the new year under a new administration with ."den harris thatwashington post" right there were some unexpected expenditures in the agreement, including border security technology." for an unexpected tax break corporate meal expenses lobbied for by the white house and strongly denounced by congressional democrats

host: more of that you can find in "the washington post." alabama, kurt, good morning. caller: good morning, pedro. good morning, america. i would like c-span2 do an entire show and make a comparison of what's supposed to be the greatest country in the world, america, and this economy and our wealth and make the comparison between what america has given its citizens as a plandemic,his scam, whatever you want to call it. compared to the rest of the world. canada, france, germany, italy, spain. they give their citizens up to $4000 per month. pick a country. you could pick any of those countries and what they give their citizens is between $1400 and $4000 month and the richest

most powerful country in the world with the largest economy in the world is scrimping and screw ching on our tax dollars, making it a priority as a last resort. to give us half of what they .ave us you starve us all summer, all fall. going out the door you decide to give the american people half the money that you gave them in was scheduled and .o to be re-up in the summer host: darrell, independent line, high. caller: it's too little money, too late. we should have a pox on both houses.

when something can still be done, here's the idea. when the billt it comes to his task, he puts it in and we basically only allow the senate and the house up top it with changes $600 per person to $1200 like it was in the early part of this year. he can force them to make a move. congresske a hint in don't have to change any articles here or there. just one. 600 to 1200. that's what should be done. host: on the president's twitter feed, he was talking about the efforts and for more to be done as far as direct spending. the caller referenced the $1200 check that went out previously, $600 past as expected by

yesterday with the deal. alexandria, virginia, democratic line. carolyn, good morning. caller: thank you for taking my call. never have i seen such a mess. he don't care anything about people because they got money. i don't care what's going on on capitol hill. all because they didn't want to sue big companies for the covid? he's looking out for the big people. i'm not saying the democrat is right or republicans is right right now. nobody is right when they let the people of the united states starve and be put in the streets with kids in the middle of winter in the middle of the

street. something's got to be done. we need to vote all of them out. host: carolyn, alexandria, virginia, giving her thoughts. some of the thoughts from the facebook page, of you were saying 1200, 600, whatever, a short,e and a dollar just a couple of payoffs as if this really helps anyone. the process has been a litter sized and monopolized by politicians and the richest cronies. i will take your $600 and spend it towards a bill. now what? this from facebook saying that nancy pelosi held the american people hostage for six months for $600. why is broadway getting 12 million just to open up all the bills and says? -- all the businesses? that this boost is

supposed to make it even? these are just some of the comments from our facebook page if you want to post their. you can also text us this morning, as several of you have on this announcement that was made yesterday. --(202)8-8002, all 748-8003, all we ask is that you include your name, your city, in your state when you do that. tonya? caller: i'm sick and tired of hearing about the democrats, nancy and chuck schumer always complaining about them, yet our ordered when they were doing the compromise, nancy came down to 2000 -- 2 million -- trillion. onerepublicans had said billion. she did come down, she tried to

compromise. i agree with the other lady who said they are only looking out for the corporations. $1200 is not a lot of money. think about people's rent. that takes stuff right there. but our president held us hostage. mitch was not going to do anything until the president said he would do something. the election, he said he would come past the stimulus bill. that's holding the country hostage. the republicans need to pay attention to what he's actually saying. host: ok, that was tonya in rose hill, giving us a call and talking about her response to this package. it also includes and extends the moratorium that was supposed to kick in at the end of the year. includes $25 billion in

rental assistance. you can go to many websites, we took this from the hill. this announced package has an expected vote today. john, bristol, connecticut, independent line, next up. caller: there's still no plan for the states. the states were there on the front lines. this party that claims they are at the end of the day there's money that people are getting, they have to pay taxes on all this for the states to keep them going. i don't understand this republican party this president. thank god we only have one more month of this. editorial responses this morning, this is from "the new york times"

host: again, that's the editorial from "the new york times." the wall street journal this morning, this is what they write about the dollar figures, $600 to most americans who earn up to $100,000 with little or no economic impact since it won't change incentives with a focused on the neediest

both there is more to those editorials online this morning. you can find them if you wish. debbie, indiana. yes, $26 each, i don't think that is right. these people have more than others on social security. host: you are saying that you should get equal or more, that's what you are arguing for? >> i don't make that much money, i'm on social security. host: ok. everett, colorado, republican mine. caller: good morning, pedro. merry christmas to everybody.

the government works slow. they are mostly lawyers and their. if you have ever dealt with lawyers, you know how that works. everybody could probably use more money. this $600 -- the $600 probably doesn't help a whole lot of people with the amount of rent and food that they have. that lady who called who needed a spark plug changed on her car, i felt so sorry for her. everybody has different needs. know, it'same, you on both parties. when you have lawyers, that's how it works, kind of like grade school. everybody blames everybody else but doesn't take responsibility. i would encourage people to read the conversation -- the constitution. comes to this it

type of spending, and both sides have commented on it, is this type of spending sustainable? caller: it won't be for very long. this is a tragedy. the government has got to do what it needs to do and get the money out as quick as they can. it's really needed. thank you. host: to everyone who called in on the total price tag concerns when it comes to coronavirus relief, my rep from twitter added this morning that i don't need it and it stinks, for now it should go to small businesses and when it comes to what's been offered by the senate, it's too little, too late. sites, rickl media in boston, massachusetts, independent line. far as stimulus, they

should have done it six months ago. let me tell you, what they should do with a lot of the , so youthey should have have all these dummies trying to get rich in their, they don't need people like that. this guy doesn't do nothing. he don't see the people on tv, the people begging in the food lines and stuff? host: to the democrats have a role? caller: we ain't in charge. when you get that job that mr. -- mitch mcconnell got, you can talk to me about that. but they had that job he got, him and trump, they going down the pipe pretty soon. host: but they control the house, though. caller: next month if they don't win those two states in atlanta they going to control nothing in mitch mcconnell should be in there no more anyway. he's been in there too long.

people think they on everything, like trump. this dummy stole the election from hillary clinton and he's going to start crying? what's he talking about, this thing with this russian thing there's nobody there to help his stupid behind. host: all right, we will leave it there. this story looks at vaccinations, going on in the background as mentor and i had a rollout of vaccinations yesterday with the starting of that process today. pfizer already releasing what they put out into the market, the cdc taking a look at who should be next up and in line to get those vaccinations. this is from cnbc, reporting that the panel there voted 13 to the frontday that line essential workers and people 75 years of age and older should be next in line to be eligible to receive the vaccine.

b group,alled phase 1 according to the advisory committee, including a front line of central workers like firefighters, teachers, corrections officers, and others essentialup, and then ,orkers, that's phase 1c educational staff, daycare workers, agricultural workers, manufacturing workers, social service workers, and the like. it goes on from there. that's the announcement from yesterday when it comes to who will be next up in line to get a vaccine. president-elect, joe biden, according to the associated press, will receive his first dose on live television as part of an effort to convince the american public that the inoculations are safe. this will come the day that the

second vaccine will start arriving in states. the president-elect says that he doesn't want to get ahead of the line but wants to make sure that he demonstrates to the american and wants to thank health-care workers at the facility where they received the shot. that's what's going on on the vaccination front, when it comes to the distributions you have heard about. pfizer, moderna, wall street journal picking up a story on that, saying the government plans to distribute seven point 9 million doses of vaccine over the coming weeks from moderna and pfizer. it was during the first week of mass immunizations, according to "the wall street journal," that vaccine doses out that largely went to health-care as they missed out in

the rural areas because they lacked the freezer temperature capabilities. we have spent about half of an hour on your thoughts around congress reaching a deal over stimulus and we will spend the next half-hour until 8:00, if you want to call us. four republicans, (202) 748-8001 free democrats. r democrats. tony, tampa, florida, you are next up. youer: hey, pedro, i hear doing. everybody crying 600, 1200. this country last year had $800 billion in credit card debt. $900 billion in student loan debt. $68 billion in snap program money.

880 billion dollars in overall welfare spending on welfare programs. with all that money out there, why should any of the low income need more money? this stimulus bill should have been for the taxpayer who goes to work every day and gets nothing from the government in benefit. they are the ones who should be getting the stimulus. they are the ones who are hurting. the middle class is getting destroyed in this country. under trump the poor got fatter and the rich got richer. the middle class got nothing. zero. to hear these people complaining about people standing in line with no food? i mean, i just don't see it. what i see when i go to the grocery store are people with two or three baskets with food pulling out a card with the american flag on it. that's what i see. richie, massachusetts,

independent line, good morning. 100%, he named all those programs, these people are getting that on top of what they are laid off and they don't even work. the truth is you could work 26 hours a week and stay on the programs. in thishe threat country. all this country is doing now is just printing out money, printing out money, and printing out money. these times it's just going to collapse. god bless you, sir, you are really right. thank you very much for listening to me. republican line, good morning. caller: good morning. i just wanted to comment on the stimulus bill. on christmas day i would like to see people like nancy pelosi,

chuck schumer, and the politicians going around on christmas day to meet some of these people in west virginia, kentucky, tennessee and north carolina, places like that, give them a $600 stimulus check when they look at the little kids that ain't had no christmas, no food, no jobs and they are hurting and they have been mistreated during the election and they are talking about taking gun rights away while crime is on the rise, defund the police, protesters in the streets. host: what makes you think that doing that would change anything? caller: everyone of them should be giving -- getting $2000 apiece, minimum. we've got it for the other countries, they don't need those $52 billion for united airlines. these people in our country are hard-working people. in our state of texas the governor cares about the people

and he make sure the people are well taken care of and governor abbott is a strong individual and i think that all politicians that work in d.c. need to get up on christmas day and put on the walking shoes and start going to people's houses, meet these families getting $600. that point.de serena, south dakota, democratic line. caller: i kind of agree with the last caller about the $2000 into it should be going to. i'm an effective family, i'm a hard worker that has been laid off a few times, trying to survive during the pandemic. they say we don't want to work? that's not true. every american once their job back. when you toss around a $600 payment after five months of the back-and-forth? it's a joke. it's too little, too late. what are we going to do with

$600 if we are already four months behind? host: the package includes unemployment extension. with that you out as well? caller: not really, it ran out for me back in july. i'm still trying to get paid from back in july. those families who are waiting to get their first payments from unemployment, it's a joke. host: serena in sioux falls, giving her comments on the announcement from yesterday. when it comes to those with covid and how it might affect how they get health care, "the washington times" this morning had a sign up -- had a story that sign-ups for obamacare are trending 6% higher amid the deepening economic misery and according to preliminary figures the centers for medicare and medicaid say that more than 8.2 million people --

host: alonso, greenville, south carolina. caller: hey, how you doing? host: fine, go ahead. negotiator loses $1 trillion in the negotiation, how do they keep the position? the one point $9 trillion that mnuchin offered, she was at 2.2. now we are at 900 billion

instead of 1.9 trillion. so, how does she keep her speakership after negotiating one last thing, does the mrna vaccine have nanotechnology in it? that's it, i'm done. host: marian cushing, oklahoma, hello. 75,000 is too high. people cannot live within a reasonable amount, they need to move. oklahomamove to because i love it, i moved here because i could afford it. $35,000 and back to anybody with an income of $75,000 made more than twice what i've ever made in my

lifetime. two a year. so, you know, get over yourself. 75,000 is way too high. host: those are some of the limits that we showed you earlier from the fortune piece as far as who can all a five or the new round and you can find that online. a couple of people reaching out to us by text this morning. this from baltimore, maryland, saying congress makes 18,000 per month via a one-time payment, pathetic at best going to late payments and other bills. is congress willing to survive on that one time and if not, what makes them think i can? $1200 should be the minimum continuing through the winter and christmas won't be happening in this house this year. jean, al myra, new york, saying that this will be a bit of help, better than nothing and my money goes to january taxes. many desperate

natural disasters and we will get through this, to. we are america, strong, thank you. marion, lafayette, indiana, republican line. caller: i was a truck driver and last night i was loading up the truck on the moderna vaccine's. truck, i know a little bit about loading and i was concerned with how high they had it in the truck. did not put on any load locks or any kind of barrier walls between this to keep these , this packaging from shifting or falling. someone may want to check on

this so that we can get the vaccines to the facilities safely. we are talking about this economic aid, what do you think of this new round of spending? i live month-to-month on social security. i plan three months ahead when i do my shopping. this way i can afford my medicines, my household goods, my groceries. fuel in the car and everything else. the $1200 that we reached last time was a tremendous help. it put me ahead. so, now when things are short, you know, i have it. waiting for bathroom tissue, kleenex, paper toweling or anything like this. my pantries are full, my freezer is full. i put in a garden this summer.

another me will be tremendous help. host: ok. that's marion giving her perspective from indiana. charlotte, north carolina, democratic line, april, hello. caller: good morning. my comment on this subject is theirmocrats, they did , thisbut mitch mcconnell is trumps america. where is he at? thep is supposed to be on front lines watching all this? we have heard nothing from trump concerning this problem. people are suffering. host: again, the president sent out a tweet yesterday where he called for more direct payments. that was as of yesterday. caller: tweet? a president tweeting? we want to see a president speaking to the american people.

not tweeting. he's not a teenager. he needs to stop the tweeting. people are suffering, people are dying and the president is tweeting? it's a shame. are several people commenting on social media feeds this morning. mark linger says both sides are painting it as a bridging emergency relief package with needed stimulus forthcoming and from that lens, it's adequate at best, more in 2021 is essential and a better delivery, saying no but this is what happens when members of congress want you to think they have done something really good even though it's the bare minimum just because they couldn't wait to get out of town , something is better than nothing, happy holidays. toother news, when it comes january 6, the next stage in the president-elect being confirmed,

congress, 60 -- congress certifies the electoral college votes. on the hill, national republicans looking to avoid a floor fight over the certification and electoral college with mitch mcconnell intervening, asking members not to join the vote from alabama or from any other house members looking to reject the results when congress meets to certify the accounts. president trump is waging a pressure campaign to get senators to revolt. tommy to bernville will be sworn in on january 3 and the hill joins in for a fight with rand paul next to claim the election was stolen but trump is always a wildcard and republican strategists are hoping that they can squash the insurgency, relieving the debate that is tearing the party apart ahead of that january 5 runoff election in georgia that will determine the balance of power in the

senate. when it comes to the president himself, from yahoo! news recently on that certification day, yahoo! news reporting that the president himself promised reporters that there would be a wild rally in washington, d.c., the date when congress is set to quote convene and from his twitter feed he said that it was statistically impossible for him to have lost and that there will be a big protest that will be wild on january 6, with the tweet claiming something and peteralse, navarro included wildly debunked claims of election fraud. that is again from yahoo! news. also, the trump campaign again going to the u.s. supreme court with the inquirer reporting that he's asking the court to step in and overturn several decisions that the pennsylvania supreme

court made regarding the election saying that the court overstepped its bounds and that the outcome of the election for the presidency of the united states hangs in the balance. there's more of that there if you want to "the philadelphia inquirer." randy, illinois, independent mind. caller: can you hear me? host: you're on, go ahead. caller: to your callers this morning about the $600, you know what? those senators and what you call it from the house, the republicans, they are on overtime. they should have went home a long time ago. but because of this bill, you know what? mitch mcconnell is probably running this thing over at the white house himself for the president to sign it because once his signature is on there they can all just run home real quick and everything. you know what? the president ought to do one

right last thing and take his powerful pen and take that bill and look at it and look at them, scratch off the $600 and put $1200 underneath and say you can't leave town until i get the $1200. they won't know what to do for pete sakes, man, because they want to get out of town as fast as possible. the president could pick up that powerful pen and just do that and he ought to do that and i tell you, would they be surprised. host: marcus, pensacola, republican line. caller: i want to know about the 8 million people that didn't receive a stimulus check in the first go around. i don't think anyone should receive a check until congress straightens this problem out and go ahead and send out the 1200 to the people that did not receive a check. host: was it a technical issue or a qualification issue? why didn't you receive one?

do you know? caller: the people i have spoken with the did not receive them, sadly most of them are registered republicans. texas, next on the democratic line, talking from the announced deal yesterday on coronavirus relief. wanted to comment on the political aspect of it. the democrats are basically now accepting a deal that is half of what they could have gotten before the election. i was critical of pelosi and the democrats before the election for not accepting the $1.9 trillion deal. but in hindsight, it was obviously a political it might helpat donald trump win the election. and, and i think at this point

now it was a wise decision. we couldn't take four more years of trumpism and trump arrangement. with biden coming in now after the new year, we should be able to get even more help than the current deal is going to provide. host: speaker pelosi saying as much, waiting on the incoming administration with more to be done on the topic of relief. of course, that also depends on what happens in the senate after the georgia runoff. speaking of, if you live in georgia, you are seeing a lot of ads about the runoff races to the tune of billions, according to "the new york times" this morning. "soaring and saturating the daysves, in the past seven campaigns and outside groups spent more than $50 million on television ads across georgia, with some days in december more

than one third of all ads in georgia were political during the local news broadcast with a target for political campaigns, 60% of all ads were political, outpacing the ad saturation in the general election with airtime races vying for ." john, michigan, independent mind, how you doing? caller: how are you doing? this is from kalamazoo, michigan, actually. i got my sunday paper yesterday and in the paper there was a full section similar to around 10 pages that had in the neighborhood of 1500 foreclosures on properties for failure to pay property taxes. people will say that it had to be at least two years. a lot of of people that are

cash-strapped will forgo payment until next year. this is, this is ridiculous. the $600 payment is really a drop in the bucket. it's not going to help a lot of people. i can't say it's not going to help at all, a little bit it's going to help. but people are losing their properties, getting evicted. it's ridiculous. like when these people are doing, when they rush this thing through just of that they can go home for christmas? some people aren't going to have a christmas or a house to spend christmas in. host: it also includes the extension of the mortgage -- moratorium and the rental assistance as well. that's a portion in there, too. get that, i get that, but all that is going to come due. an extension simply kicks the can down the road. the bill also included the so-called three martini lunch

for corporate. why? it just doesn't make any sense. in louisiana.next kenner, louisiana, democratic line, hello. caller: good morning. host: you're on, sir, go ahead. caller: no, i know, pedro. host: you're on, go ahead. caller: you can hear me? these people need to do the right thing. it's just amazing a lot of, how this stuff has been handled. 2020 has been a mysterious year. host: when you talk about finger-pointing, you mean the politics behind the deal being done? yeah, they are playing politics and i feel like upon in a chess game. it's just ridiculous. , it like my grandfather say

took them this long to do that? that means they don't want to do it. kenner,at's william and louisiana, giving his thoughts to the process playing out politically behind this announced deal, "the washington post" saying that when it comes to the mechanics of what's next, even if they are able to resolve the sticking points from yesterday it may take more time for congressional staff members to resolve the agreements in the house in the senate and lawmakers have not yet released the text of the agreement between senior democrats and pat toomey over the federal reserve, sticking point as of saturday unemploymentcludes

benefits for gig workers and the like. a lot of things that you can find online and we showed you some of those things in the features of this proposed spending plan or proposal. catherine is in louisiana, democratic line, hello. caller: how are you, sir? host: i'm fine, go ahead. caller: people should be happy that we are getting the $600, ok? older people, their social security is going up a small portion. plus our government is raising the food stamps up for louisiana. so, why is everybody complaining over this? why shouldn't they be complaining? let me ask you that. at least we are getting the 600 dollars. we could be getting not anything.

host: that was catherine in louisiana. $600 in unemployment aid for those who are self-employed and an 11 week extension under emergency unemployment compensation, all in all $284 billion set aside for the paycheck protection program. from fortune as far as who is going to qualify, this quotes a spokesman for chuck schumer, saying that the phaseout for this would be similar to the spring stimulus package, the cares act stimulus increase for 2019 adjusting to federally taxable income with 75,000 per individual or qualified couple and the checks completely phased out for individuals earning above $99,000 in joint filers .ith no children more there at the fortune story, if you want to see it there. elaine from florida, independent line, high.

caller: that fellow that call in about the food stamps and every free thing given to them and nothing to the middle class, he ought to be in washington. i have a neighbor that works in the school system and in the summer she had to be in their to pack their breakfast and lunch. they don't check who is coming in. all they do, they found out that these people were going around selling the packages they put in. they are right across the street from a housing project funded by the government. and you know they are all on food stamps. why are they getting free breakfasts and free lunch? where is the mother to take care of these kids? i'm disgusted with this system and i have called our washington congressmen on this. that man in washington, he should be there, whoever it was that call in with all the figures. host: henry, we will hear from

you, next. hello. they can give the folks more money at this point in time. these folks in there are two old. they need some youngblood to bring it into the 21st century. this is ridiculous, man. 700 and $40 billion? and you can't give people just a couple of dollars? they can't even stop them from hacking the systems and everything. you that aconvinces change in leadership would have resulted in a different outcome? these old guys, i'm 71, i'm one of them, but these old guys, there's no way that they can think the way they used to think. there's no compassion for nothing. it's about them.

i'm a combat vet from vietnam. i never seen anything like this in my entire life. you can't even help your own people? really? that was henry in virginia. wendi is in roseville, michigan. caller: good morning, pedro. merry christmas and all that. i'm happy we are getting $600. that's going to help a lot. this year was kind of a rough year. i lost my mom, 94. she had dementia and she was, you know, suffering. that $600 is going to help a lot. to hear these people that are complaining, come on, people, it's money. you, spend it the way you want to. did you receive the previous payment?

caller: i did. host: how did it help? caller: it helped a lot, i was trying to behave bills and things like that and this one will help, too. host: what do you expect to do with this round of money, if i may ask? caller: i'm trying to buy a house, so that money's going towards downpayments and things like that. host:ery

much, madam speaker. i associate myself with your comments and that of our chaplain, father conroy, that it is appropriate to start today with a prayer every day, but especially a day when we are seeing over 300,000 and the number getting higher of americans who are dying from the coronavirus. we hope, bau