Top congressional Democrats and White House officials appeared to harden their stances on new coronavirus relief legislation on Wednesday, as negotiations headed toward an end-of-week deadline with no sign of an agreement.
U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters after nearly two hours of talks that Democrats were determined to reach agreement on a legislative package but only if it met the needs of an American public reeling from months of restrictions aimed at stopping the spread of infections.
Another key negotiator, White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, told CNN that President Donald Trump stood ready to take unilateral action on unemployment benefits and protection from evictions if Democrats and Republicans were unable to reach an agreement on how to proceed.
“If Congress can’t get it done, the president of the United States will,” he told CNN.
The two sides remained trillions of dollars apart in their negotiating positions after more than a week of discussions between Pelosi, Meadows, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer.
Senate Republicans have been told that negotiators have until Friday to reach agreement. “If there’s not a deal by Friday, there won’t be a deal,” Republican Senator Roy Blunt told reporters.
Pelosi suggested she did not accept that timeframe.
“I feel optimistic that there is a light at the end of the tunnel, but how long that tunnel is remains to be seen,” Pelosi said.
Negotiators have already blown past one deadline: last Friday, when enhanced unemployment payments of $600 a week expired for the tens of millions of Americans who have lost their jobs in the pandemic.
Trump said he was considering unilateral action to stimulate the economy by allowing taxpayers to defer payroll tax payments – a proposal that has gained no traction among lawmakers of either party.
“I have the right to suspend it, and I may do it myself,” he said in an interview with Fox News. “I have the absolute right to suspend the payroll.”
POSTAL WOES
Trump’s newly installed postmaster general, Louis DeJoy, briefed the parties, amid worries about delays in Postal Service deliveries and the potential impact on the November elections, in which record numbers of mail-in ballots could be sent as many voters fear casting votes in person could expose them to the coronavirus.
“We must resolve those in a way that allows mail to be delivered on time for the election and for the necessities that people need,” Schumer said on the Senate floor.
Asked if his party would be open to more postal funding, Blunt said, “Sure.” But he demurred when asked about how much, saying, “I don’t know, but I think there’d be an openness to that.”
To illustrate the scale of mail-in voting expected, a Monmouth University poll found that 40% of Iowa voters are very likely to vote by mail in the general election, while another 17% are somewhat likely to do so.
Voters in Michigan reported they had not received the mail-in ballots they asked for before Tuesday’s primary.
Mnuchin has warned that the Trump administration would not accept “anything close” to the $3.4 trillion in new aid sought by Democrats. But he offered to extend through the end of the year an expired moratorium on evictions of people unable to pay their rent.
McConnell, the chamber’s top Republican, who has not joined the negotiations, did not draw as hard a line as Mnuchin or some fellow Republican Senators.
“We’ll certainly be in next week. We’ll see what happens after that,” McConnell said. Even if the White House and Democratic negotiations agree on a deal, it will take time to draw up legislative language and summon members for a vote.
Some of McConnell’s Republicans last week rebelled against his $1 trillion proposal, which would have significantly reduced the enhanced jobless benefit.
In May, the Democratic-controlled House passed a $3 trillion aid bill that included around $1 trillion to help state and local governments that have revenue shortfalls because of the huge slowdown in economic activity related to the pandemic.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, speaking on behalf of all U.S. governors, urged Congress to include $500 billion in unrestricted state funding.
(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle, Susan Cornwell and Richard Cowan in Washington; Writing by David Morgan; Editing by Scott Malone, Jonathan Oatis and Sonya Hepinstall)
