Bloomberg TV anchor Jonathan Ferro criticized Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) and other Democrats on Monday for the stalled coronavirus stimulus, telling her to quit blaming Republicans and come to an agreement.
Appearing on Markets after she and her Democratic colleagues voted against the $1.8 trillion package on Sunday, Warren spoke to a fed-up Ferro over the delay in economic relief.
"In this bill, there are checks for everyday Americans," he said. "The reason this bill hasn't gone through is because of Democratic senators. Do you want to be the person that's stopping people from getting their checks to meet their rent at the end of this month?"
Warren replied that the blame should instead be placed on Republicans. "The reason this bill has not gone through is because of Republican senators," she said, "and because of a Republican leadership that pretended to negotiate for three days with the Democrats and then at the end of that time basically introduced their own bill."
Ferro criticized lawmakers for not showing enough urgency on the matter.
"You guys can get this done," he said. "The only thing stopping it from happening is yourselves, on both sides of the aisle. There is no point coming on the TV shows today, on the networks, saying, 'It's the Republicans' fault.' Because you know what's happening on the other networks? 'It's the Democrats' fault.' It's all of your fault."
The stimulus bill failed Sunday when Democrats voted it down. They complained about a lack of corporate oversight and called for further protections for workers.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) criticized Democrats for "obstruction" and accused Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) of setting talks back during a crisis. Pelosi has since announced House Democrats will present their own stimulus bill.
A Republican aide told National Review that Democrats are tacking on ideological demands unrelated to the coronavirus, such as new collective bargaining powers for unions and increased fuel emissions standards for airlines. Democrats have previously attempted to exploit the deadly outbreak to push through a number of other progressive policies in relief legislation.