Speaker Nancy PelosiNancy PelosiRubio says congressional oversight of intelligence faces ‘historic crisis’ following DNI announcement Warner calls Intelligence chief’s decision to scale down congressional election security briefings ‘outrageous’ Pelosi, Schiff pan director of national intelligence for canceling election security briefings MORE (D-Calif.) said Thursday that the high-stakes talks between the White House and Democrats on coronavirus relief will resume only when Republicans come to the table with at least $2 trillion.
“When they’re ready to do that, we’ll sit down,” Pelosi told reporters in the Capitol.
The comments foreshadow a rocky road ahead as the parties haggle over a fifth round of emergency relief designed to address the health needs and economic devastation caused by the pandemic, which has hit the United States harder than any other country.
Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer Chuck Schumer ArrayY.) Nestled with White House negotiators – Treasury Secretary Steven MnuchinSteven Terner Mnuchin 19 more conversations and Chief of Staff Mark MeadowsMark Randall MeadowsMick Mulvaney will begin a coverage fund Sunday Preview: Protests continue on Blake’s set; Discussions about the coronavirus law remain stagnant Pelosi criticizes the Republican Party, he claims that $0.3 trillion in coronavirus relief is more sufficient, for two full weeks when talks failed last Friday.
Quite aside from specific policy prescriptions, the sides have not yet agreed to the overall size of the next aid package.
Pelosi and House Democrats passed a $3.4 trillion relief bill in May, while Senate Republicans responded after the past month with a $1.1 trillion counterproposal.
Last week, Democrats had shown up to meet in the middle, somewhere in the $2 trillion, but Republicans turned down the offer and ended the talks indefinitely.
Looking for a breakthrough, Mnuchin and Pelosi spoke on the phone Wednesday, but the verbal exchange did nothing to break the deadlock. In fact, Pelosi said he had made the same $2 trillion offer, and Mnuchin responded with the same rejection.
Mnuchin then issued a saying that Pelosi’s account was “not a faithful reflection” of the conversation.
“She has made it clear that she is unwilling to meet to continue negotiations unless we settle for her proposal in advance, which costs at least $2 trillion,” Mnuchin said, adding that Democrats “have no interest in negotiating.”
Pelosi questioned the extent of the inaccuracy on Thursday and noted that both sides had made it clear that the war of words focused on the Democrats’ $2 trillion request.
“We said, ‘$2 trillion and then we can sit down at the table.’ Then he said, ‘That’s not what she said. She said $2 trillion or we can’t sit down at the table,'” Pelosi said. “Didn’t you think that that was strange?”
When asked when he would speak to Mnuchin again, Pelosi expanded his numerical requirement.
“I don’t know. When they arrive with $2 trillion,” he says. “But we do not sit at the table to validate what [they] have proposed, because it does not fulfill the wishes of the American people.”
At the press conference, Pelosi highlighted a graphic highlighting some of the main differences between the parties’ proposals. Democrats, for example, have about $60 billion in food stamps and other anti-hunger programs, against The Republicans’ offer of $250,000.
For coronavirus tests, Democrats have proposed $75 billion, about five times the GOP’s bid. And a bigger hole between the sides when it comes to helping tenants: Democrats need $100 billion; Republicans presented zero.
“We’re miles away in our values,” Pelosi said.
His chart did not come with several other provisions that prevented an agreement, adding the Democrats’ call of billions of dollars of heaps in new investments for state and local governments, a weekly accumulation of $600 in unemployment benefits, and $25 billion for the U.S. Postal Service. Service. Service before the November elections, when mailed ballots are expected to flood the system.
President TrumpDonald John TrumpTrump to visit Kenosha on Tuesday amid unrest Warner calls Intelligence chief’s decision to scale down congressional election security briefings ‘outrageous’ Katyusha rocket lands in Baghdad ‘Green Zone’: report MORE has complicated the fight over remote voting, warning that mail-in ballots promote fraud while absentee ballots are safe, particularly in states governed by Republicans.
Pelosi was quick to note that there’s no difference between the two — “They’re the same thing,” she said — while accusing Trump of trying, preemptively, to delegitimize the results of an election he thinks he might lose.
“He knows that, legitimately, it would be difficult for him to win, ” he said. “Then he put [in his place] barriers to participation.”
It is not known what force will interfere to break the partisan stalemate. Members of the House and Senate have returned to their districts, the following monthly employment report, the first to reflect the expiration of the $600 grant, will not be released until the first week of September, and party conventions are about to consume much of the nation’s attention over the next two weeks.
These dynamics have raised the hypothesis that Congress will still have little selection to mix a fifth circular of coronavirus assistance with the next inevitable law to come: federal funds, which must be renewed by October 1 to avoid closure.
But Democrats warn that the economic and health upheaval disorders caused by the pandemic are too severe to expect so long.
To point out this point, Pelosi noted that nearly four million new cases of coronavirus have been diagnosed in the United States since the House approved its $3.4 trillion proposal, adding more than 75,000 deaths. He accused Republicans of pushing for a “little money, fragmented” reaction that would only cause the numbers to rise.
“We can’t wait until September 30,” he said, “because other people are going to die.”
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