TRUMP URGES CONGRESS TO OK STIMULUS PACKAGE

President Donald Trump on Saturday called for Congress to pass a stimulus package, urging swift action while being treated for the coronavirus despite significant obstacles remaining between negotiators over an agreement.

White House officials have in recent days sought with increasing urgency to secure a stimulus deal amid new signs of weakness in the U.S. economy and Trump’s flagging polling numbers ahead of the 2020 presidential election. The president’s sudden hospitalization on Friday threatened to inject a new element of uncertainty into the already delicate talks, although negotiations continued into the weekend.

“OUR GREAT USA WANTS & NEEDS STIMULUS. WORK TOGETHER AND GET IT DONE,” Trump said on Twitter on Saturday afternoon from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.

Trump’s push for a stimulus package comes as the pace of the economic recovery wobbles and evidence mounts of permanent job loss in certain sectors. American Airlines and United Airlines announced earlier this week that they would furlough as many as 32,000 workers, and the restaurant industry has warned of a wave of permanent small business closures in the winter without additional federal aid.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-calif., and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin revived bipartisan talks this past week, and have both expressed optimism that an agreement could be reached.

But significant outstanding disagreements cloud the prospects for a deal. Congressional Democrats have pushed for this stimulus package to cost $2.2 trillion, while Mnuchin has said the administration is “in the neighborhood” of $1.5 trillion — a wide gulf of $700 billion that will be hard to close in a matter of days.

Substantial policy disagreements also remain. One issue under discussion is a Democratic proposal to expand eligibility for tax credits to the Affordable Care Act for people on unemployment, as many Americans have lost their health insurance along with their jobs due to the pandemic. Republicans may oppose such a provision on the grounds that it provides federal funds that can be used for abortion — a notion Democrats dismiss as unfounded.