Not done talking:
Trump signs orders with sides far apart
Pelosi, Mnuchin are still willing to negotiate after Trump’s executive orders.
Democratic congressional leaders and White House officials said Sunday that they are willing to continue negotiations to reach an agreement on a new coronavirus stimulus package to take the place of the executive orders President Donald Trump unveiled the previous day.
“We have to reach an agreement,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on “Fox News Sunday.”
The California Democrat said that Trump’s orders failed to accomplish the administration’s own stated goals and that the idea they could “take the place of an agreement is just not so.”
“We’ve got to meet halfway,” she said. “We’ve got to do the best we can for the American people. But what they’re putting forth does not meet that standard.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., told ABC News’ “This Week” that Trump’s executive orders are “unworkable, weak and far too narrow.” He hopes that “Republicans who hung their hat on these executive orders will now be forced” by the economy and pandemic to “come to the table, accept our compromise to meet in the middle, and come up with an agreement.”
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on “Fox News Sunday” that he is willing to continue negotiations with Pelosi and Schumer.
“Any time they have a new proposal, I’m willing to listen,” Mnuchin said.
“The president has said, we can go back to the negotiating table,” White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow told ABC News. “We’ve not said no to that. We’ve been up there every day.”
At a news conference from his golf resort in Bedminster, New Jersey, Trump signed four executive orders: one to provide an additional $400 per week in unemployment benefits, another that suspends some student loan payments through the end of the year, another that protect renters from being evicted from their homes, and one that allows employers to defer certain payroll taxes through the end of the year for Americans who earn less than $100,000.
Pelosi and Schumer said there were many shortcomings to Trump’s orders. Among their strongest objections were the reduction in weekly federal unem ployment benefits from $600 to $400 and language in the executive order that leaves the states responsible for paying for 25% of the benefit. They argued that states’ budgets are already strained because of the pandemic and that they don’t have the money to cover the 25%. And they said it could take weeks or months to get the assistance to Americans because of the way the order was structured.
White House trade adviser Peter Navarro said on NBC News’ “Meet the Press” that it was “unfortunate that these negotiations to date have failed.”
“If Congress solves the problem, there’s no need for the president to take executive action,” he said. “We’ll see what we get.”
Contributing: David Jackson and Michael Collins