WASHINGTON, DC – House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (MD) joined MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” this morning to discuss Senate Republicans’ failure to provide urgent coronavirus relief to the American people. Below are excerpts from his interview and a link to the video:   "We are facing a deeply divided and dysfunctional Republican party, which, frankly, is not new. They shut down the government when they were in charge of everything. They took us to the brink of debt default when they were in charge of everything. And they continue to make a pattern that let the people be on their own, don't take action, pause, let’s see what happens. Well, they saw what happened. As a result of the lack of confidence that we were going to move forward, this economy is now in one of the deepest troughs it's ever been in. And it's because of Republican failure to act; the Senate's failure to act; but more specifically, Senator McConnell's failure to act. His Republicans, which we now see, can't even – 80 days after we passed an alternative – come up with an alternative of their own. All they've come up with is a very short fix which will continue to have great uncertainty, great angst among our families and our people. [It’s] inadequate to the challenge that confronts us both on the health side and the economic side. It is a tragedy for the American people that neither the President nor the Republicans in the United States Senate can come to a consensus on making a proposal that will, in fact, work to try and stabilize this hemorrhaging economy and this terrible pandemic.”

“We’re going to be negotiating every minute that is possible… By the way, let me point out, Willie, in the last 15 days – while the Senate has been twiddling its thumbs and doing nothing and pausing – we passed a Justice in Policing bill, the DC statehood bill, [and legislation] strengthening the Affordable Care Act and bringing costs down for the people. We passed a major piece of rent and mortgage relief for people who are renting and buying their homes, and we passed a major infrastructure bill. And this week, we will be sending the 10th appropriations bill [to the Senate]. The Senate has not passed a single appropriations bill, even out of committee. We will send 10 appropriations bills [to the Senate]. We’ve done a major Land and Water Conservation Fund bill, and two child care bills, which is a major issue in this country because of the pandemic and the tanking of our economy. That’s what we've done in the last 15 days. And in 80 days, the Senate and the President have done nothing to meet this crisis, which is why it has inflamed and gotten worse. The President said this was a hoax. Essentially, the Republican leadership in the Senate and in the House when we passed this bill May 15^th: ‘oh well, we don't have to worry about it. We'll pause.’ That's why we are where we are, and it is tragic. And I will tell you, Nancy Pelosi, Steny Hoyer and the Democrat leadership, we're here, we're on the phone. We will be negotiating with those who want to get to a reasonable place.”

“Mark Meadows yesterday said maybe we can do a four-month extension on the $600 [weekly enhanced unemployment assistance]. Why did he say that? Because his economic advisers are saying, ‘have you seen what's happened to the economy? If we don't help prop it up, people are going to be in deep, deep distress.’  This is a crisis. This Administration thrives on chaos, confrontation, and crisis, and it is undermining the strongest, best country on earth. And it's an irresponsible leadership that we're confronting, and it's sad for the American people.”