» White House, Democrats at an impasse on stimulus talks.
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump and top Democrats in Congress began the week unable to agree how to move forward with negotiations on another economic stimulus package after a weekend in which the president stretched the bounds of his executive powers and ordered a patchwork of coronavirus relief measures.
The disconnect boded poorly for a comprehensive deal being reached this week, with most lawmakers now scattered across the country, leaving the states, businesses and millions of unemployed Americans grappling with how to proceed with more limited government support.
Monday brought no new talks between Trump’s team and negotiators on Capitol Hill as the president tries a go-it-alone strategy.
The two sides are stuck on how big an infusion the economy needs. The Democratic-led House in May approved a sweeping $3.4 trillion measure, arguing that the toll of the pandemic warranted another massive infusion into the U.S. economy even after the government rapidly deployed nearly $3 trillion in early spring. Republicans, particularly in the Senate, delayed drafting their own proposal, in part because of stark divisions over how much more money is needed. They continue to advocate for a narrow proposal.
On Monday, Trump, who has largely sidelined himself during talks on Capitol Hill, proclaimed that his gambit to obtain more leverage in the talks had been a success, claiming that Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, the minority leader, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California “want to make a deal.”
The president’s orders seek to reverse the devastating fallout from unemployment assistance, eviction protections and other aid that has expired. But there are limits, and legal pitfalls, in trying to make an end run around the legislative branch.
Pelosi dismissed Trump’s proposals Monday as an “illusion” in an interview on MSNBC.
Trump acknowledged he’s still quite open to negotiations. “So now (Senate Minority Leader Chuck) Schumer and Pelosi want to meet to make a deal. Amazing how it all works, isn’t it,” he tweeted Monday. “They know my phone number.”
But top congressional Democrats said they had not reached out to the White House since their last meeting Friday with Steven Mnuchin, the Treasury secretary, and Mark Meadows, the White House chief of staff. The meeting ended without an agreement, and the two administration officials declared that they would recommend unilateral executive action.
The measures Trump signed Saturday were meant to revive unemployment benefits, address an eviction ban, provide relief for student borrowers and suspend collection of payroll taxes after two weeks of talks between congressional Democrats and administration officials failed to produce an agreement on a relief package.
In an interview with CNBC on Monday, Mnuchin declined to comment on the specifics of the logistics of the negotiations but said that the White House remained ready to make a deal.
“There’s a deal to do if the Democrats are reasonable and want to compromise,” Mnuchin said. “If their attitude is we’d rather give you nothing than agree on things, then we’re not going to get a deal.”
Democrats have repeatedly insisted that they would not accept anything less than a broad relief package because of the devastating toll of the pandemic.
“I consider a short-term bill a missed opportunity to do everything in our power to stop this pandemic,” Pelosi said in an interview Friday, ticking off a number of issues, including funding for the general election in November and the Postal Service, that she said she considered important priorities for Democrats given the pandemic.
The Treasury secretary said that demands from Democrats to provide $1 trillion in support to states remained a nonstarter, but he argued that the federal government would help states that say they cannot afford to provide additional enhanced jobless benefits to unemployed workers. The weekly $600 payments added to unemployment checks, which were part of the $2.2 trillion stimulus law, were paid entirely by the federal government. Those payments expired last month.
A measure the president signed Saturday repurposed other federal funds, including from a pot of disaster relief aid, to create a $400-a-week bonus payment as part of unemployment aid. That payment, however, is contingent on states providing $100 per week and establishing an entirely new program — called a “lost wages assistance program” — to distribute the aid.