U.S. Rep. Kendra Horn, Oklahoma's lone Congressional Democrat, said that while the two parties in Congress don't see eye-to-eye on much, there is some level of consensus on what should be included in the next coronavirus relief package.
"The areas that I think there is strong, bipartisan agreement is in the need to continue to fund research — research on vaccine development, treatment, PPE and other critical resources for our health care community, as well as funding for state and local governments, because we know the toll," Horn said on a virtual town hall event on Friday.
Horn has bucked her own party by voting against the last Democrat-backed relief bill, and suggesting that the $600 payments in federal unemployment insurance may be too generous.
"As a fiscal conservative, I don’t support racking up debt, but there are times of emergency when we have to dig deep and that’s the appropriate thing to do," Horn said. "And right now, the thing that we need to do is make sure that we’re supporting the mechanisms and the people that are going to allow us to make it through this."
Horn said a fourth coronavirus bill should include funding for local health departments, potentially going to them directly and not funneled through state governments.