McConnell warns White House against making a stimulus deal

WASHINGTON — Prospects for an economic relief package in the next two weeks dimmed markedly Tuesday after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell revealed that he has warned the White House not to strike an agreement with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi before the the Nov. 3 election.

In remarks at a closed-door Senate GOP lunch, McConnell, R-Ky., told his colleagues that Pelosi, DCalif., isn’t negotiating in good faith with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, and that any deal they reach could disrupt the Senate’s plans to confirm Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court next week.

Republicans have voiced concerns that a stimulus deal could splinter the party and exacerbate divisions at a time when they’re trying to rally behind the nominee.

McConnell’s attempted intervention came as Pelosi and Mnuchin continued negotiating over the roughly $2 trillion economic relief package.

Pelosi spokesman Drew Hammill said the “conversation provided more clarity and common ground as they move closer to an agreement.” But no deal can become law without McConnell’s blessing, and his direct warning to the White House imperils the chances of any bill becoming law in the next two weeks.

McConnell said that if a deal were reached and passed by the House with President Donald Trump’s support, he would put it on the Senate floor “at some point”— but he didn’t commit to doing so before the election.

McConnell hasn’t been part of the Pelosi-Mnuchin talks, which have jumped around in chaotic fashion, and alreadyhas made his opposition to an enormous new bill clear.

Republicans could lose control of the Senate in November’s elections, and senators have made clear to the White House that voting on a huge stimulus deal could mean the end of their majority if it scares away fiscally conservative voters.

Mnuchin and Pelosi have continued dancing around a deal for weeks, particularly amid signs that the economic recovery is weakening.

The deal under discussion would provide another round of $1,200 stimulus payments, more unemployment benefits, aid for small businesses, money for coronavirus testing, and support for airlines and hospitals, among other things.

In a Bloomberg interview Tuesday, Pelosi adamantly denied that she was stringing the White House along and said she wouldn’t be negotiating if she didn’t want a deal. But McConnell’s remarks show the raw political calculations that both parties are dealing with two weeks before the Nov. 3 elections.

The comments emerged amid escalating tensions between some Republican members of Congress and Trump over stimulus talks

Trump in recent days has downplayed or dismissed conservative opposition to spending trillions more on a stimulus, saying he wants to spend even more money than Pelosi’s latest $2.2 trillion proposal.

Many

Republicans

already balked at spending more than $1 trillion on this round of relief.

Asked about McConnell’s reluctance to the stimulus, Trump said Tuesday morning: “He’ll be on board if something comes. … Not every Republican agrees with me, but they will.”

Pelosi and Mnuchin continued their negotiations Tuesday, talking for 45 minutes as they wrangled over sticking points including liability protections for businesses and state and local aid. Pelosi had said that if they’re going to vote on a deal by the end of next week, they need to agree on language by the end of this week.

Asked after her conversation with Mnuchin whether that could happen, Pelosi replied: “I hope so. That’s the plan. That’s what I would hope. That’s the hope, let me say that.”

White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows told CNBC on Tuesday afternoon that Mnuchin and Pelosi have made “good progress” and that negotiations would continue Wednesday.

Still, he said, major hurdles remain, with the negotiators “several hundred billion” dollars apart and at odds over the extent of state and local money.

Meadows also said he had several conversations with Trump about stimulus negotiations Tuesday and that the president is “very bullish” about not letting a difference in dollar amounts stand in the way of a deal.

“I want to stress: We’re not just down to a difference of language and a few dollars. We still have a ways to go,” Meadows said. “But I would say the conversations today were productive enough to have conversations tomorrow.”