White House, Congress work on relief package
Mixed signals cloud prospects for any type of deal
The White House sent mixed signals Thursday about the direction of renewed stimulus talks, resulting in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi confronting Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin over who speaks for the president.
The developments occurred two days after President Donald Trump ordered Mnuchin to stop negotiating with Pelosi, only to announce Thursday that talks were back on. Pelosi, D -Calif., said Democrats were still ready to deal.
According to Pelosi’s spokesman, Mnuchin and Pelosi spoke by phone Thursday afternoon to discuss prospects for a comprehensive economic relief bill when White House communications director Alyssa Farah told reporters at the White House that the administration does not support legislation of that kind.
“We’ve made very clear we want a skinny package” consisting of stimulus checks, an airline bailout and small-business relief, “but not part of a larger package,” Farah said in comments distributed in a White House pool report.
Farah’s comments appeared to contradict what Pelosi had just heard from Mnuchin — which was that Trump supported a more comprehensive deal, Pelosi spokesman Drew Hammill said.
“The Speaker pointed out that, unfortunately, the White House Communications Director contradicted that assertion during their call. The Speaker trusts that the Secretary speaks for the President,” Hammill said on Twitter.
A spokesperson for Mnuchin had no comment.
The exchange clouded prospects for a deal of any kind, comprehensive or otherwise, less than four weeks before the November elections.
Pelosi and Mnuchin had been discussing a package between $1.6 trillion to $2.2 trillion before Trump pulled the plug on talks on Tuesday — a decision he back-pedaled on several hours later.
On Wednesday, Pelosi and Mnuchin began discussing a bill that would have focused solely on helping airlines, but there was backlash to that idea from some Democrats and unions who questioned why airlines would get help but not others. By Thursday morning Pelosi said that any aid for the airline industry would only be considered if it were part of a larger relief package to meet other economic needs.