Stimulus bill discussions hit impasse Friday as deadline nears: ‘Disappointing meeting’
Leaders in Congress and the White House began negotiation talks again on Friday on the second coronavirus relief package.
Their comments on Friday’s meeting didn’t appear to leave them too optimistic about a compromise that can pass both the Republican-controlled Senate and Democratic-controlled House. The meeting reportedly ended after an hour and a half, Politico’s Jake Sherman reported, after discussions Thursday similarly ended in an impasse.
“It was a disappointing meeting,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said on Friday, according to CNN senior congressional correspondent Manu Raju. Schumer added that the Trump administration couldn’t go “much above” the $1 trillion package and Democrats were willing to compromise for $2 trillion.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin rejected House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s offer to “split the difference” between Republican and Democratic coronavirus relief packages, Bloomberg reported.
“That’s a non-starter,” Mnuchin said Friday before the talks.
Pelosi reportedly said, “I’ve told them come back when you are ready to discuss a higher number,” according to CNN correspondent Phil Mattingly.
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Senate Republicans introduced their $1 trillion second stimulus package, called the Health, Economic Assistance, Liability Protection and Schools (HEALS) Act, last week, McClatchy News previously reported. President Donald Trump signed the $2.2 trillion coronavirus bill, called the CARES Act, into law in March.
House Democrats passed their own $3 trillion coronavirus aid bill, called the Heroes Act, on May 15, but it never received a vote in the Senate.
The HEALS Act would include $1,200 payments to individuals and $500 for dependents, similar to the CARES Act. The HEROES Act would give $1,200 for individuals and another $1,200 for dependents, capping the limit at three, Forbes reported.
Pelosi called the Republican bill a “piecemeal” proposal during a Friday news conference.
”If we take down a trillion, and they add a trillion, we will be in range. But we must meet the needs of the American people.”
Schumer said Republicans “rejected” their offer “entirely.”
“It’s not just, ‘Oh they want this, you want that.’ It’s real needs. That’s what guides us. What seems to guide them is the idea that the government should spend as little money as possible despite the crisis in America,” Schumer said.
The negotiation talks on Thursday evening also ended in a stalemate.
“We’re still a considerable amount apart,” White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows said after the meeting with Mnuchin, Pelosi and Schumer on Thursday, The Washington Post reported. Trump called into the meeting several times but they weren’t able to come to a resolution.
Meadows reportedly said on Friday Republicans would encourage Trump to take action in order “to alleviate some of the pain” of Americans through an executive order, CBS News White House Correspondent Mark Knoller reported.
Mnuchin said that Trump would issue executive orders on unemployment and other benefits if they decide on Friday that negotiations won’t go anywhere, according to The Washington Post. Schumer said that the executive orders could be challenged legally.
“We are very far apart — it’s most unfortunate,” Pelosi said, according to CNN.
“We are very disappointed in the meeting. … They were unwilling to meet in the middle,” Schumer said, according to CNN.
Pelosi said that Meadows “slamm(ed) the table and walk(ed) out” of the Thursday meeting, but Meadows denied that happened, according to Nicholas Wu, a reporter from USA Today.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell expressed optimism earlier on Thursday that an agreement could be reached, telling CNBC: “Exactly when the deal comes together I can’t tell you, but I think it will at some point in the near future.”
Pelosi also said that Democrats weren’t going to budge when it comes to unemployment benefits, which were $600 payments every week under the first coronavirus aid package, according to CNN.
“We have said that we are going to have the $600,” Pelosi said, adding, “They know that we want the $600.”
Democrats in Congress have pushed for continuing the $600 unemployment benefits, which expired at the end of July, while signaling some room for compromise depending on the unemployment rate, Business Insider reported. The unemployment rate was 11.1% in June, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, after peaking at 14.7% in April, surpassing the level of unemployment during the Great Recession.
The HEALS Act would replace 70 percent of what someone made before getting laid off, instead of the $600 check, according to Sen. Chuck Grassley, a Republican from Iowa.
Senate Republicans want to slash the $600 benefit in order to ensure people don’t earn more in unemployment than if they went back to work, The Associated Press reported.
Republican Sens. Mitt Romney of Utah, Susan Collins of Maine, and Martha McSally of Arizona introduced a bill on Wednesday that would allow states to either give a $400 or $500 check per week in August in unemployment and scaling down the payment in September to $400 per week, according to CNBC. That payment would be an addition to regular benefits from a person’s state.
Senate Republicans and Democrats have disagreed on the second coronavirus relief bill and how much it should cost.
Pelosi said on Tuesday Democrats were still aiming for a $3.4 trillion relief bill, Forbes reported.
Sen. Rand Paul, a Republican from Kentucky, criticized his fellow Republicans for considering the HEALS Act Wednesday, saying he wouldn’t vote for it. “Republicans and Democrats compromise every day of the year to spend money we don’t have,” Paul said.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he estimated about a third of Republicans won’t vote for the HEALS Act.
“I think there are 15-20 of my guys that are not going to vote for anything. ... It’s a statement of the obvious that we will not have everybody on our side,” McConnell told WHAS.
