---
title: "Congress Is Working on a Giant COVID-19 Aid Package"
description: "Democrat Party leaders Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi are working on a COVID-19 relief package that they're comparing to Roosevelt's New Deal."
date: "2020-05-07"
modified: "2020-05-07"
authors:
  - name: "Dan Robitzski"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/danrobitzski"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/congress-working-giant-covid19-aid-package"
categories:
  - "Future Society"
tags:
  - "congress"
  - "covid19"
  - "financial"
  - "the digest"
---

# Congress Is Working on a Giant COVID-19 Aid Package

![Democrat Party leaders Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi are working on a COVID-19 relief package that they're comparing to Roosevelt's New Deal.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/congress-working-giant-covid19-aid-package.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Victor Tangermann\</em\>*

## New Deal

Democrat Party leadership in Congress announced Thursday that it plans to reveal a massive relief bill to support Americans during the coronavirus pandemic.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said that Republican leadership's preferred approach of [reduced government spending](<https://futurism.com/neoscope/list-trumps-broken-coronavirus-promises>) would only lead to further economic devastation, *[The Hill ](<https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/496565-schumer-pelosi-set-to-unveil-rooseveltian-relief-package>)*[reports](<https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/496565-schumer-pelosi-set-to-unveil-rooseveltian-relief-package>). Instead, he called for broad action on par with Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal.

"We need Franklin Rooseveltian-type action and we hope to take that in the House and Senate in a very big and bold way," Schumer [said on *MSNBC*](<https://www.msnbc.com/stephanie-ruhle/watch/sen-chuck-schumer-trump-is-hurting-himself-by-ignoring-the-truth-83141189789>).

## Up The Ante

Schumer pointed to steps already taken by Congress, like [passing the CARES Act](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/congress-proposes-paying-americans-2000-per-month>) that supplemented unemployment payments, as a step in the right direction, according to *The Hill*. But he said more significant action was needed to protect individual workers, rather than the economy at large.

"We've got to have the same focus, even a stronger focus on the people — the working people, the average people who are suffering as well. We need the same kind of big, bold, tough action," Schumer said.

## Details Hazy

Until Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi share more, it will remain unclear just how ambitious the relief package will be — and how Senate Republicans will respond to it.

"We need action here to help average folks," Schumer said. "We've done some in the House and Senate, we need to do a lot more."

**READ MORE:** [Schumer, Pelosi set to unveil 'Rooseveltian' relief package](<https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/496565-schumer-pelosi-set-to-unveil-rooseveltian-relief-package>) \[*The Hill*\]

**More on the U.S. pandemic response:** *[A Brief List of Trump's Broken Coronavirus Promises](<https://futurism.com/neoscope/list-trumps-broken-coronavirus-promises>)*

## Author
Dan Robitzki is a senior reporter for Futurism, where he likes to cover AI, tech ethics, and medicine. He spends his extra time fencing and streaming games from Los Angeles, California.

### Author social links  
[Twitter](<https://x.com/danrobitzski>)