Trump: Working with Congress to provide relief to most affected
President Trump announces he is working with Congress to provide additional relief and says he believes our markets will rise rapidly once coronavirus is defeated
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Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colo. joined the "Fox News Rundown" podcast Friday to discuss life under quarantine and plans by the White House and lawmakers to send Americans coronavirus relief checks.
"Look, this is different than 10 years ago when you had bad actors doing bad things asking for a bailout," Gardner told host Dave Anthony. This is a virus that came out of the blue, out of China, and here we are today dealing with it. It's not a Democrat or Republican or a business creation ... Thank goodness our economy is as strong today as it was going into this, because we're going to need every ounce of that strength once we get out of this. "
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On Thursday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., released his proposal for a massive stimulus package to provide relief for struggling Americans, including payments of up to $1,200 per person and up to $2,400 for couples.
The legislation is not a done deal as McConnell will still need to get Democrats -- and a few lingering Republicans -- on board. Negotiations are expected to run into the weekend, with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer saying McConnell's bill "is not at all pro-worker and instead puts corporations way ahead of workers."
Gardner emphasized Friday that an agreement among lawmakers on how much to send Americans had to be done quickly: "It can't take six months. It can't take a year. It's gotta happen soon. We do need to have immediate relief."
READ MCCONNELL'S STIMULUS PROPOSAL
When asked for his thoughts on the idea of sending a check to every American, Gardner told Anthony: "I had suggested early on that we work through the unemployment insurance process to create a new category of workers that wouldn't require them to be laid off, it would not require them to be fired, but it would be a way to get assistance through an existing mechanism quickly."
"A thousand dollars in Manhattan is different than a thousand dollars in Burlington, Colo.," Gardner noted, explaining why he thought "going through an existing scalable mechanism like unemployment insurance would be a better approach because you could take those kinds of anomalies into account when you did the funding for it."
MNUCHIN SAYS WH LOOKING TO SEND $1,000 CHECKS TO MOST AMERICANS WITHIN 3 WEEKS
Gardner phoned into the podcast while under self- quarantine after coming into direct contact with a constituent who later tested positive for the coronavirus, he explained.
"I had a meeting with a constituent in my office that had not been showing symptoms while he was in the office. And it was a personal meeting ... in my official office. That was of sufficient concern to them that they said, 'You need to be quarantined,'" Gardner said.
Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo. is also under self-quarantine after a meeting with someone who Gardner assumed to be the same infected constituent.
"He's [Crow's] back home in Colorado. So at least he's at home ... I got sentenced here in Washington, but I did text him and asked him what kind of ramen noodles he was having," Gardner joked.
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The FOX NEWS RUNDOWN is a news-based daily morning podcast delivering a deep dive into the major and controversial stories of the day.
Fox News' Andrew O'Reilly contributed to this report.
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