Tim Scott: Hospitals should re-engage in profitable activity during pandemic

close

Video

Sen. Tim Scott on calls for more funding to SBA's payment protection program

Thousands await loans as the Small Business Administration's payment protection program runs out of funds.

Get all the latest news on coronavirus and more delivered daily to your inbox. Sign up here.

Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., called on governments to allow hospitals to re-engage in elective procedures during the coronavirus pandemic since the majority of their income came from those sources.

"I think hospital funding would be helpful ... I'll say this though. As I talk to CEOs of hospitals around South Carolina, what they say they need is the ability to go back to work. They're not doing elective surgeries, they're not doing procedures -- and about 80 percent of the hospital funding comes in those categories," he said on "Cavuto Live."

"Hospitals are sitting empty and they're not able to do the work. If the PPE, if the personal protection equipment, is not a concern, we should allow hospitals to start re-engaging and doing those things that are profitable. And then we can provide some additional funding on top of that," he said.

His comments came as Congress deliberated over what should be included in another economic relief package during the pandemic.

MSNBC HOST CLASHES WITH SCHUMER AFTER CLAIMING DEMS 'STANDING IN THE WAY' OF SMALL BUSINESS RELIEF

Scott saw hospital funding as a potential source of compromise but warned that Democrats were holding the process "hostage" for their own demands.

"I'm hoping that by the end of next week, we'll have funding secured," he told Fox News host Neil Cavuto. "What will it take? Democrats are currently holding hostage the $250 billion, and the question is what's the ransome? The ransome is UBI, universal basic income, or something like that, is off the table."

"The signs we're hearing is that more hospital funding is what they need. That, in my opinion, is an appropriate balance for us to move forward. Kevin McCarthy in the House, Republicans are sincere, looking for a way to find that middle ground."

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., defended his party on Friday, arguing that it was fighting for needed funding for state and local governments.

CLICK HERE TO GET COMPLETE CORONAVIRUS COVERAGE

"When they lay off hundreds of thousands of people, which they will before May 4th when we come back, that’s just as bad as the small business person not being able to employ people ... these immediate things are needed," he told MSNBC. Schumer added that he wanted to fix to the paycheck protection program (PPP) before doling out more money.

"You'd still have more than half the businesses left out and getting no money," he said. "Don’t just ask Democrats. Eight Republican senators said that in a letter to [Senate Majority Leader] Mitch McConnell. The Chamber of Commerce, hardly a Democratic organization, also agreed."