During a Tuesday morning meeting with the Senate Banking Committee over the coronavirus relief package, Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) bashed Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin for pushing for the economy to reopen without providing a safety net for workers.
Brown began by attacking Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) for forcing the Senate to hold meetings at such a dangerous time.
“McConnell has forced workers to go against public health authorities’ advice for three weeks now. He still has no plan to get additional help for families and communities,” Brown said.
He then demanded answers for why the White House is forcing Americans back to work when, in some states, cases of the virus is still on the rise.
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“How many workers should give their lives to increase our GDP by half a percent or the Dow Jones by 1,000 points?” asked the senator
“No workers should give their lives to do that and I think your characterization is unfair,” Mnuchin responded.
Brown then pushed Mnuchin to answer why essential workers were being forced to work without any sort of compensation at a time that unemployment insurance would give them more funds if they were sitting at home not working.
Neither Mnuchin nor Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell wanted to agree that essential workers should be paid more.
Take a look at the interaction in the video clip below:
