Stimulus deal before election looks slim
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin made further progress on a coronavirus stimulus package Wednesday, according to Pelosi’s office, but Senate Republicans continued to raise objections.
“Today’s conversation brings us closer to being able to put pen to paper to write legislation,” Pelosi spokesman Drew Hammill tweeted after the two negotiators held a 48-minute call Wednesday. “With the exchange of legislative language, we are better prepared to reach compromise on several priorities.”
The two negotiators will talk again today, Hammill said. With the time frame becoming ever more compressed, both sides on Wednesday floated the potential for final votes after Election Day. White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said the economy and markets would still benefit from the announcement of a deal between the administration and the House in the next two weeks.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has made no specific promise on the timing for a vote on any compromise endorsed by President Donald Trump and passed in the House. GOP members Wednesday raised concerns about both the size of the deal under negotiation — $1.9 trillion, according to White House chief of staff Mark Meadows — and policy issues in the language.
“The president’s willing to lean into this” with Republican senators if a deal is reached, Meadows said in a Fox News interview Wednesday afternoon.
It’s still not clear whether a deal can be reached. Meadows complained that it’s the administration that’s “advancing this negotiation further and further to Nancy Pelosi’s side of the ledger.” The speaker has made only “small” concessions, he said.
“Differences continue to be narrowed on health priorities, including language providing a national strategic testing and contract tracing plan, but more work needs to be done to ensure that schools are the safest places in America for children to learn,” Pelosi’s spokesman, Hammill, said.
Trump continued to criticize Democrats for seeking large- scale assistance for state and local authorities.