NEW YORK — As congressional leaders continue to work on a new coronavirus relief package, COVID-19 cases have been surging in the city and across the state.

Long Island has seen a steady growth in recent days and currently has a seven-day average positivity rate of 5.97%.

Rep. Tom Suozzi, who represents parts of Nassau County and a section of northeastern Queens, joined anchor Errol Louis on Inside City Hall on Thursday night to talk about the spike, the state’s vaccine rollout, and stimulus talks in Washington D.C.

Suozzi says he’s confident lawmakers will find common ground and finally approve the $908 billion relief package before the upcoming holiday recess. He emphasized, however, that he was disappointed by the fact that the final proposal does not include aid for state and local governments.

“I don’t understand it, because it's hurting Republican states as well. It’s hurting Republican governors, and Republican mayors, and police forces,” he said. “The Republicans are defunding the police because we are not giving the money to the local governments.”

According to Suozzi, the only reason Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is even agreeing to negotiations is because he’s worried about the two Georgia runoff races that will determine the fate of the Senate in a few weeks.

“He knows he’s got to do something and that could be the whole topic of the Georgia races if people went home for the holidays and unemployment expired and small businesses were going under,” he said. “You know, we got really hit here in New York, our restaurants are in so much trouble.”

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