Shortly after, the White House communications director, Alyssa Farah, told reporters the administration wants a package below $2 trillion, sowing further confusion.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin headed into talks with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Friday carrying a White House offer of $1.8 trillion for economic stimulus, according to people familiar with the matter. The two spoke for about 30 minutes and Mnuchin’s proposal “attempted to address some of the concerns Democrats have,” Pelosi spokesman Drew Hammill said on Twitter.
Pelosi has proposed a $2.2 trillion plan, down from the $3.4 trillion package the House passed in May, but the differences between the two sides involve more than money. They also differ on how it should be spent.
‘Strategic plan’
Another hurdle is that many Republicans in Congress have said they would oppose any plan approaching $2 trillion, but Trump on Friday indicated he wasn’t concerned about that.
“I’m telling you something I don’t tell anybody else because maybe it helps or maybe it hurts negotiations,” Trump told Limbaugh. “I would like to see a bigger package.”
It’s an about-face by Trump, who said Tuesday he was pulling out of the pandemic relief talks. It comes with the election three weeks away and polls showing him trailing Democrat Joe Biden.
Political need
Trump himself “potentially” could have talks with lawmakers today, Farah said, without specifying who he might speak with.
Stocks had climbed to session highs on Friday on the first reports of the White House upping its offer on coronavirus relief, but failed to gain further steam from Trump’s later twist. The S&P 500 Index was up 0.9% as of 3:21 p.m.
There is still skepticism about whether a deal can be cut and transformed into legislation before Election Day.
Time presses
McConnell said earlier Friday that there’s probably not enough time before the election to bridge the “vast” differences on a new virus relief package.
“I believe that we do need another rescue package, but the proximity to the elections and the differences of opinion about what is needed are pretty vast,” McConnell said at an event in his home state of Kentucky.
McConnell later told reporters that “even if an agreement” on stimulus is reached, his first priority is securing Senate confirmation of Trump’s nominee for the Supreme Court. Hearings for Amy Coney Barrett are scheduled to begin Monday with a final Senate vote as soon as the week of Oct. 26.
If Pelosi and Mnuchin get an agreement, Congress would then likely need two weeks or more to draft legislative text and approve it in the House and Senate. The Senate is on recess until Oct. 19 and the House until mid-November, but lawmakers have been told they can be called back with 24 hours notice to vote on any stimulus deal.
If it did come to a vote, Republican lawmakers may be a major obstacl
Original news source Credit: gulfnews.com
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