White House ups bid in last-ditch COVID talks with Congress
WARHINGTON >> The White House is backing a $400 per week pandemic jobless benefit and is dangling the possibility of a COVID-19 relief bill of $1.6 trillion as last- ditch, pr e - ele c t ion negot ia - tions hit a critical phase Thursday. But pessimism is again seeping into the talks and the two sides switched back to attacking each other in public.
T he of fer by Treasur y Secretar y Steven Mnuchin on unemployment is higher than many Republicans would like in any potential COVID deal with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Significant, possibly unbr idgeable hurdles remain.
After Pelosi said the new offer still fell short, White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said the speaker was “not being serious” in the negotiations.
“We raised our offer to $ 1.6 trillion,” McEnany told reporters Thursday. “It’s one that she is is not interested in.”
The ramped-up negotiations come as challenging economic news continues to confront policymakers. The airlines are furloughing about 30,000 workers with the expiration of aid passed earlier this year and a report Thursday showed 787,000 people claiming jobless benefits for the first time last week.
Mnuchin and Pelosi spoke by phone early Thursday afternoon, but the speaker was publicly dismissive of the latest White House plan.
“This isn’t half a loaf, this is the heel of the loaf,” Pelosi said in a Thursday interview on Bloomberg TV.
The speaker and treasury secretary were expected to speak by phone again later Thursday.
The Trump administration, meanwhile, appears more eager than Capitol Hill Republicans to reach an agreement.
The White House plan, offered Wednesday, gave ground with a $250 billion proposal on funding for state and local governments and backed $20 billion in help for the struggling airline industr y. Both areas are of great interest to Democrats’ union backers.
Details on the White House offer were confirmed by congressional aides, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss closed- door discussions.