Are coronavirus stimulus negotiations dead?
Both sides play blame game over differences
Trump, Pelosi and McConnell blame one another as all sides remain far apart on funding priorities.
WASHINGTON – A bipartisan deal for a new coronavirus stimulus package appeared hopelessly out of reach on Thursday, with congressional Democrats blaming Republicans, Republicans blaming Democrats and President Donald Trump suggesting the talks are doomed.
The only thing everyone seemed to agree on is that the discussions are at an impasse.
“I want you to see how vast our differences are,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said at a news conference Thursday. She pointed to a large blue poster detailing the wide gap between what Republicans and Democrats want to pay for various priorities.
“It’s no wonder we have a vast difference because this administration, other Republicans in Congress have never understood the gravity of this situation,” Pelosi said.
While Pelosi was speaking, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, RKy., went to the floor on the other side of the Capitol and condemned Democrats for sticking with a “completely unrealistic, far-left proposal” and holding the negotiations “hostage” over “non-COVID-related ideological items.”
“The speaker and the leader have not conceded anything,” McConnell said. “They haven’t budged on their absurd demands. Their partisan games continue. And so the nation’s pain continues, too.”
The dueling remarks illustrate the gulf between both parties over desperately needed money to help workers, families, businesses and schools weather the coronavirus pandemic. After weeks of talks, the negotiations have only seemed to worsen despite the expiration of a number of vital programs.
The halted talks have left the country largely in a state of limbo.
A small-business loan program that more than 5 million businesses have used to keep afloat during the pandemic has ceased operation. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services plans to furlough about 13,400 of its 20,000 employees – roughly two-thirds of its workforce – because of budget constraints amid the pandemic. And a $600 boost in weekly unemployment benefits expired last month, leaving many families desperate for financial help.
A survey by the Census Bureau in July found 24 million Americans said they had no or little confidence in their ability to pay their rent in August. More than a quarter, or 26.5%, of Americans missed their rent or mortgage payment for July.
Hours after McConnell’s remarks, he adjourned the Senate until September – evidence that any deal is unlikely to be worked out in the coming days. Democrats and Republicans are hosting conventions over the next two weeks.
At the White House, Trump suggested Wednesday that a deal isn’t going to happen and pointed the finger at Democrats for demanding $3.5 billion for mail-in voting, which he argued would perpetuate voter fraud, and for pushing for an additional $25 million for the postal service.
“Those aren’t going to happen,” he said, adding that Democrats “don’t even want to talk about it because we can’t give them the kind of ridiculous things that they want.”
Pelosi, who has led weeks of negotiations on behalf of Democrats with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y., said Thursday that she wasn’t sure when talks would continue with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, who have led discussions on behalf of White House and Republicans.
Pelosi and Mnuchin spoke by phone Wednesday, with Mnuchin offering to resume in-person meetings after they were halted earlier this month. That conversation only seemed to leave both sides digging in their heels further,
Both sides offered statements indicating that the other was unwilling to budge on the price tag for the package.
Democrats had wanted a more than $3 trillion bill and have since offered to drop to $2 trillion. Republicans offered a proposal costing $1 trillion and have not wanted to go far above that amount.