Stimulus talks back on after Trump reversal
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday that they’re negotiating on broad economic relief legislation, the latest twist after five head-spinning days during which the White House has whipsawed between demanding a stimulus bill, then shutting down talks — only to renew them again.
Speaking to reporters, Pelosi made her demands for a new package clear, nixing the idea of passing a stand-alone bill to help solely the airline industry. She said such aid would only be considered if its part of — or accompanied by — a larger relief bill to meet other economic needs. She and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin had discussed a stand-alone bill for the airline industry on Wednesday one week after the industry began large-scale furloughs when federal aid expired.
Pelosi, D-Calif., had appeared open to the idea of a stand-alone bill Wednesday, but by Thursday morning — with some Democrats questioning why airlines should get help when others weren’t — she disavowed it.
“The only point about negotiations is, ain’t gonna be no stand-alone bill unless there’s a bigger bill, and it could be part of that or it could be in addition to that,” Pelosi told reporters at her weekly news conference.
She said she and Mnuchin were still talking. “We’re at the table. We want to continue the conversation. We’ve made some progress. We’re exchanging language. So we’ll see how we connect,” Pelosi said.
There appears to be a new sense of urgency from the White House and some congressional Republicans to reach some sort of agreement amid signs the economic recovery is weakening.
Trump said in a Fox Business Network interview that economic relief talks are back on and could include a new round of $1,200 stimulus checks. This announcement came two days after he abruptly declared them over and ordered his deputies to stop negotiating with Pelosi.
“Well, I shut down talks two days ago because they weren’t working out. Now they are starting to work out, we’re starting to have some very productive talks,” Trump said in an interview on the network.
He said he believes Pelosi “wants it to happen, because it’s so good for our country, we really need it.”
The developments appeared to leave the two sides roughly where they were Tuesday morning, before Trump abruptly announced that talks were over and that he was asking Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., to focus on filling the Supreme Court vacancy instead. McConnell, speaking in Kentucky on Thursday where he is campaigning for reelection, also talked about the need to approve additional aid.
“As soon as we can reach an agreement, whether that’s before or after the election — I mean the need is unrelated to the election,” he said. “The need is related to the aftermath of the impact of the coronavirus ... the difficulty in getting together is related to the election but the need remains the same whether we get together before or after the election.”
Pelosi and Mnuchin had been negotiating for about a week on a relief bill with a cost between $1.6 trillion and $2.2 trillion. Even before Trump killed the talks on Tuesday, there was widespread pessimism about their ability to get a result, especially with the election just weeks away and scant legislative time to approve a deal even if one were reached.
The deal under discussion would include new $1,200 stimulus checks, renew enhanced unemployment benefits, and provide $75 billion for coronavirus testing and tracing, among other provisions.