Angered over GOP leaders blocking yet another coronavirus relief bill, activists from SPACEs In Action and Shut Down DC lined up fake body bags outside Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's house in Washington D.C. on Tuesday. The move came as the U.S. witnessed a surge in Covid-19 cases and deaths post-presidential election last month.
SPACEs In Action blamed the coronavirus-related deaths — over 270,000 — on McConnell and other Republican lawmakers and said that the deceased Americans' "blood is on his hands." Apart from McConnell, the grassroots organization along with Shut Down DC piled up the body bags outside the houses of Oklahoma Sen. Jim Inhofe, South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, and Maine Sen. Susan Collins.
"GOP senators led by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell have been blocking House-passed COVID relief for months. Over 270,000 dead, more losing jobs & homes & small businesses, and still they're playing politics. Today we brought the bodies to their doorsteps.," Shut Down DC tweeted.
Both organizations shared a video of their activists carrying the body bags out of a van and dropping them in front of the Republican lawmakers' residences. A note attached on one of the bags stated "Trump Covid death," while a placard stuck outside Oklahoma Sen. Jim Inhofe read: "While you fiddled, 270,000 [Americans] died." Other notes urged the lawmakers to "do your job" and asked, "how many more on your watch?"
Meanwhile, McConnell released a new aid plan on Tuesday and called it "targeted relief" in a bid to boost the struggling economy. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi also presented a new proposal to McConnell in a bid to arrive at a compromise.
"I think the one thing we all agree on, is that we don't have time for messaging games. We don't have time for lengthy negotiations," McConnell said. "The issue is, do we want to get a result? And I like to remind everybody that the way you get a result is you have to have a presidential signature."
Under McConnell's "targeted relief" proposal, the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program will continue till Jan. 31, 2021, and small business would receive a second round of Paycheck Protection Program funds. The proposal also stated that public schools will receive $105 billion so that it can "help students get back to school."
The senate majority leader had previously rejected a $2.2 trillion bill proposed by Schumer and Pelosi.
