Republicans urged to back big virus stimulus package
President Donald Trump, falling behind in the polls against Democrat Joe Biden ahead of the November election, yesterday urged his Republican Party to back a big-spending coronavirus stimulus package.
Trump blamed “heartless” Democrats for Congress’ failure to agree on another bill injecting cash into struggling households and businesses after months of virus lockdowns.
But in a tweet, he told Republicans to “go for the much higher numbers,” saying Congress must give “Stimulus Payments to people who desperately need the money, and whose fault it was not that the plague came in from China.”
Negotiations in Congress have been at a standstill for weeks, with Republicans balking at what they say is the unrealistically high price tag demanded by Democrats.
The White House in particular has branded Democratic proposals as a generalised bailout for state and local authorities suffering from non-virus-related financial woes.
But as the November 3 presidential and congressional elections approach, both sides are under pressure not to appear as having abandoned voters.
Democrats led by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi are said to be wary of handing Trump an opportunity to mount a PR coup on the eve of the election.
But on Tuesday, Pelosi told lawmakers they would remain in Washington until they take action on the federal aid, according to US media. Trump’s chief of staff, Mark Meadows, said yesterday that there is “a growing sense that there are still some real needs to be addressed.”
“If the speaker is saying she’s willing to stay in until a deal gets done, that’s also another encouraging sign,” he said.
“The biggest stumbling block is if we use this pandemic as a bailout mechanism for poorly run states,” Meadows said.”That would be a very difficult hurdle to overcome.”
Pelosi and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer yesterday said they were encouraged by Trump’s tweet calling for Republicans to back “much higher numbers” in a new coronavirus relief package.
“We look forward to hearing from the president’s negotiators that they will finally meet us halfway with a bill that is equal to the massive health and economic crises gripping our nation,” Pelosi and Schumer said in a statement.
The House approved $3.4tn in new coronavirus aid in May, although Pelosi later dropped the Democrats’ aid demand to about $2.2tn.
Trump on Tuesday said a vaccine against coronavirus could be three or four weeks away, despite cautionary notes sounded by some public health officials about that accelerated timeline.
Trump, speaking at a town hall hosted by ABC News in Philadelphia, defended his handling of the coronavirus crisis, and said a vaccine could be ready for distribution before the US presidential election on November 3.