DC might not return to virus aid talks until Sept.
Congress goes into recess with no new relief on the horizon
WASHINGTON — Americans counting on emergency coronavirus aid from Washington may have to wait until fall.
With talks on benefits having stalled out, both sides played the blame game Thursday rather than make any serious moves to try to break their stalemate. Official Washington is emptying, national politics is consuming the airwaves and the chasm between the warring sides appears too great for now.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., pressed the case for funding for the U.S. Postal Service, rental assistance, food aid and rapid testing for the virus at her weekly press event, blasting Republicans and declaring “people will die” if the delay grinds on.
“Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gave a damn,” Pelosi said when asked if she should accept a smaller COVID-19 rescue package rather than endure weeks of possible gridlock. “That isn’t the case.”
All of the chief combatants have exited Washington after a several-day display of staying put as to not get blamed for abandoning the talks.
The political risk for President Donald Trump is continued pain in U.S. households and a struggling economy — both of which promise to hurt him as the campaign heads toward September.
For Democrats, there is disappointment at being unable to deliver a deal but apparent comfort in holding firm for a sweeping measure instead of the few pieces Trump wants most.
A modest Trump administration overture Wednesday generated nothing but stepped-up carping and accusations of bad faith.
“It’s a stalemate,” White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said Thursday.
Across the nearly empty Capitol, the Senate’s top Republican sought to cast the blame on Pelosi, whose ambitious demands have frustrated administration negotiators like White House chief of staff Mark Meadows.
“They are still rejecting any more relief for anyone unless they get a flood of demands with no real relationship to COVID-19,” said Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.
Meadows has never cut a deal in Congress of the size and scope of the $1 trillionplus rescue bill that was being negotiated before the two sides failed to reach agreement.
McConnell has kept the talks at arm’s length, nursing deep divisions among Republicans on the topic — and assorted pieces — of the foundering relief measure.
Among the possible items lost is $10 billion in emergency funding for the Postal Service to help improve service as its role in the fall election takes on greater importance, given an expected surge in mail voting because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Trump is against $3.4 billion demanded by Pelosi for helping states with the crush of mail-in ballots.
The White House and congressional leaders are far apart on the size, scope and approach of aid for shoring up households, reopening schools and launching a national strategy to contain the virus, which has infected more than 5.2 million people in the United States and has killed almost 167,000, according to figures compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
Trump’s top negotiator, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, tried to revive stalled talks Wednesday, but Pelosi and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer dismissed the overture, saying the Trump administration was still refusing to meet them halfway.
Congressional Republicans are largely sitting out the talks.
With the House and Senate essentially closed, and lawmakers on call to return with 24 hours’ notice, hopes for a swift compromise have dwindled. Instead, the politics of blame have taken hold, as the parties focus on this month’s presidential nominating conventions and lawmakers’ own reelection campaigns.
All indications are talks will not resume in full until Congress returns in September, despite the mounting death toll.
For Americans, that means the end of a $600 weekly unemployment benefit that has expired, as has a federal ban on evictions. Schools hoping for cash from the federal government to help provide safety measures are left empty-handed. States and cities staring down red ink with the shattered economy have few options.
Trump’s executive actions appeared to provide a temporary reprieve, offering $300 in jobless benefits and some other aid. But it could take weeks for those programs to ramp up, and the help is far slimmer than what Congress was considering.
More than 20 million Americans risk evictions, and more are out of work.