PELOSI: Deal ‘very close’ on new loan funds.

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WASHINGTON — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Saturday that Congress is “very close” to striking a bipartisan deal to replenish funds in the small-business loan program that ran out of money last week.

“We’re close. We have common ground,” Pelosi said in an interview with ABC’s

This Week that will run in full today. “I think we’re very close to an agreement.”

House Republicans have scheduled a conference call for tonight to get an update from their leaders on the status of negotiations on replenishing the tapped-out Paycheck Protection Program, according to several party officials. Democratic members hadn’t received any such notice as of Saturday night.

One Republican lawmaker familiar with the situation said there’s been no official whipping or vote counting on a possible deal. The call tonight is being billed as catching members up on the status of talks, the lawmaker said.

House members on both sides of the aisle haven’t been told so far that they’ll be called to Washington this week to vote on any deal, if necessary. One person in the Republican leadership ranks, though, said a vote could occur this week.

President Donald Trump had signaled a possible compromise in the deadlock over additional aid for the staggered U.S. economy as the top congressional Democrats and the administration pushed negotiations into the weekend.

Trump’s blessing for aid to hospitals removed one sticking point in talks among Pelosi, Senate Democratic leader Charles Schumer, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and their staffs on replenishing the Paycheck Protection Program for small businesses. They have been discussing providing $75 billion for beleaguered medical facilities, a Democratic aide said.

“Hospitals have been decimated by this,” Trump said when asked about the negotiations Friday at a White House briefing. “I’m with that all the way, if they want to add hospitals.”

House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy said earlier Friday

that he also could accept the hospital aid in a deal, a day after saying Republicans shouldn’t offer Democrats a “fig leaf” of a compromise until they agreed to give the small-business program, which ran out of money Thursday, an infusion of $250 billion.

The shift in the GOP stance surfaced as some Democratic lawmakers facing reelection in swing districts, who’ve been targeted for pressure by Republicans, were backing away from their leaders’ brinkmanship strategy on the aid.

There is still some way to go for a deal. McCarthy remains opposed to the Democrats’ proposal to provide $150 billion in assistance for state and local governments in the package under discussion, an aide said. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell also hasn’t weighed in publicly on the negotiations, though he’s unlikely to oppose a deal signed off on by the White House.

The dispute has left many small businesses, which have been particularly hard-hit by state-mandated stay-at-home orders, unable to apply for loans and financing through the Small Business Administration.

As they have throughout the standoff, Schumer and Pelosi on Friday were signaling optimism.

“We can get this all done hopefully very, very soon,” Schumer said on MSNBC. He said the aim was to “do a lot more than just renewing one program of small business, which we should do. We want to do that.”

In the meantime, Democrats have faced an onslaught of attacks by Republicans seeking to pin the blame on them for delaying help to small businesses at a time when a record number of workers are being thrown out of jobs.

Trump assailed Democrats on Twitter: “Today people started losing their jobs because of Crazy Nancy Pelosi, Cryin’ Chuck Schumer, and the Radical Left, Do Nothing Democrats, who should immediately come back to Washington and approve legislation to help families in America. End your ENDLESS VACATION!”

The National Republican

Congressional Committee, the political arm of House Republicans, targeted individual Democrats representing swing districts, such as Pennsylvania’s Rep. Conor Lamb.

“Lamb’s absent leadership has let this vital aid program expire and left PA-17 small businesses in a disastrous position. Lamb should be ashamed of himself,” committee spokesman Michael McAdams said in a news release Friday.

Although Pelosi has managed to keep her membership in line during previous confrontations with Republicans, there were signs of nervousness in the ranks, particularly among those facing tough reelection races in November.

Rep. Kendra Horn of Oklahoma, who won a Republican-held seat in 2018 and is one of the most vulnerable Democratic incumbents this year, said the small-business aid shouldn’t become a “political football.”

“The bottom line is we cannot let this program go without funding and we have to fix the problems,” Horn said.

Rep. Elaine Luria, D-Va., who also represents a district that Trump won in 2016, said Senate and House leadership “must act immediately.”

“I am prepared to return to the Capitol to vote for a clean appropriations supplemental bill to replenish this funding and give our small businesses the resources they need,’ Luria said in a statement.

Horn said that while state and local governments as well as hospitals will desperately need funding shortly, they are not out of money this week. She said congressional leaders should focus on renewing the small-business aid and adjusting it to make it easier for self-employed people and microbusinesses to apply, leaving other needs to be dealt with in the coming weeks.

The inability to meet in person has hampered Congress’ ability to strike a deal. In past spending standoffs, Pelosi’s first move would be to craft a House bill, pass it and then enter into talks with Senate Republicans and the administration. With the covid-19 epidemic in full bloom, the House is not planning to reconvene before May 4.