Donald Trump asserted Monday that he is personally involved in the Capitol Hill negotiations on a new coronavirus stimulus package even though he has yet to meet with Democrats on the new legislation.
‘I’m totally involved, I’m totally involved,’ Trump said after meeting with tech industry workers when he was asked why he wasn’t taking part in the talks on Capitol Hill.
The president accused Democrats of ‘slow-rolling’ the talks, and hinting at an executive order or some other action in claiming he might have to make a move on his own.
While Trump made those comments, his top advisers, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, were heading over to Capitol Hill for another round of negotiations.
The president also spent all day Saturday and Sunday, while Meadows and Mnuchin were working hard to reach an agreement at the Capitol, playing golf at his golf clubs in Sterling, Virginia.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi boasted that the meeting Monday was ‘productive.’
‘We’re moving down the track,’ she told reporters after negotiations reached a stalemate last week, but signaled no new deal is in the pipelines.
‘We still have our differences,’ the California Democrat continued. ‘We are trying to have a clearer understanding of what the needs are.’
Donald Trump claimed Monday that he is ‘totally involved’ in negotiations over the next coronavirus relief bill despite never meeting with Democrats
The comments came as Trump spent the weekend golfing at his club in Virginia while his Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin were on Capitol Hill negotiating
After Monday’s meeting with Meadows and Mnuchin, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer signaled they are ‘moving in the right direction’ but ‘still have our differences’
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer told reporters at the Capitol following the two hour meeting: ‘There are a lot of issues that are still outstanding.’
Meadows, Mnuchin, Pelosi and Schumer have met nearly every day over the last week – and the duo has vowed to make a trip back every day until a deal if reached.
Even if negotiations had been successful on Monday, a vote to enact the package wouldn’t take place until late this week or early next week – meaning those receiving unemployment checks will go, at minimum, one week without the boosted $600-per-week benefits.
Attempts to reach a deal before the enhanced unemployment benefits expired Friday floundered.
Pelosi said Monday morning before the meeting that it’s difficult to reach a deal with Republicans because she claims the opposition party is not willing to negotiate on the $600 unemployment figure.
‘A building is on fire and they are deciding how much water they want to have in the bucket,’
‘Millions of people could have fallen into poverty without this $600,’ she asserted.
Republicans proposed a bill last Monday that included a decrease from the $600-per-week boost to a temporary $200-per-week payment on top of normal unemployment benefits. The decreased enhancement, in the Republican package, would then be phased out to a program that would cap unemployment at 70 per cent of the individual’s pre-coronavirus wages.
Meadows has vowed that he will be at the Capitol every day this week to reach a deal.
‘We will be speaking to both the president on a regular basis and the staff on a regular basis,’ Meadows said. ‘We will be back every day until we solve this.’
It could be a while until Americans see more economic relief in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic as Democrats and Republicans reach a deadlock in negotiations.
While the White House officials make a push to reach a deal, fiscal conservatives on Capitol Hill are not keen on passing a fourth sweeping relief package.
Mnuchin (left) and Meadows (right) headed to Capitol Hill Monday for more negotiations on getting the next coronavirus relief package passed
Meadows promised to make a visit to the Capitol every day this week to reach a compromise on legislation as jobless Americans are now faced with losing their enhanced unemployment benefits
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told CNN Monday morning that Republicans are not willing to compromise on the $600-per-week unemployment benefit boost, which expired on Friday with no new deal on the table
Mnuchin said Sunday morning that Republicans are not willing to concede to the high price tag Democrats want on the legislation – a total of at least $3 trillion.
‘That’s something we’re not going to do,’ Mnuchin told ABC News This Week when asked about the $1 trillion measure Democrats are demanding in aid for state and local governments.
The Republican proposal laid out by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Monday had a total cost of $1 trillion, which some Republicans claim is already too high a price for yet another round of relief in less than five months.
Other than laying out the terms of the Republican-drafted legislation on Monday, however, McConnell has remained largely absent from negotiations and silent on the matter of the next package.
‘We have to balance,’ Mnuchin told ABC. ‘There’s obviously a need to support workers, support the economy.’
‘On the other hand,’ he said, ‘we have to be careful about not piling on enormous amounts of debt.’
In a sign of a continuing partisan stalemate over another relief bill, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi could not give a timeline on Sunday.
‘The fact is we will be close to an agreement when we have an agreement,’ she told ABC’s Martha Raddatz.
Meadows and Mnuchin will meet with Pelosi (right) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (left) on Monday
Mnuchin told ABC News on Sunday that Republicans won’t give into Democrats’ urge for $1 trillion to state and local governments in the next coronavirus stimulus package. ‘We proposed a one-week extension at $600, so that while we negotiate a longer term solution at least all those people don’t lose their money,’ Mnuchin said. ‘And I’m surprised that the Democrats won’t agree to that’
Pelosi signaled a stalemate in negotiations as she could not give a timeline on when an agreement on next package would be reached as enhanced unemployment benefits expired Friday
‘The fact is, they put on the floor at the end of this week in the Senate $200,’ she lamented of the GOP proposal of a cut from the unemployment boost.
‘We are unified in our support for $600,’ Pelosi asserted of the Democratic Party.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer told reporters Saturday: ‘We’re not close yet.’
Mnuchin, whose interview with ABC News followed Pelosi’s, said he was ‘surprised’ by her comments.
The Treasury secretary has been the liaison between the White House and Congress, specifically with Democrats, as negotiations commenced in March for a slew of packages to provide relief to Americans and stimulus to the economy in the midst of the pandemic.
‘The president is very concerned about the expiration of the unemployment’s insurance,’ Mnuchin assured.
‘We proposed a one-week extension at $600, so that while we negotiate a longer term solution at least all those people don’t lose their money,’ he added. ‘And I’m surprised that the Democrats won’t agree to that. They are insistent on having this as part of a larger deal.’
The unemployment boost, passed as part of a previous relief bill, expired Friday as lawmakers scrambled to reach a deal on extending or amending the enhanced benefits.
Democrats want to keep the $600 benefits as the virus prevails, but the Republican proposal on Monday detailed a temporary decrease to $200-per-week.
Republicans also revealed, however, that they intend for the decreased benefits to then be phased out after 30 or 60 days and replaced with a cap of 70 per cent of the individual’s pre-coronavirus wages.
Unemployment benefits were boosted to $600 extra per week as millions of Americans find themselves jobless in the midst of the pandemic, but Republicans are proposing that measure be decreased to $200 per week in the next bill
The pandemic has left millions without jobs as Americans have been either temporarily or permanently laid off, had their hours cut or were furloughed.
Republicans have lamented that the high rate of enhanced unemployment has incentivized the newly jobless to remain out of work and continue collecting checks.
Mnuchin and Meadows, who have spent the last week negotiating with lawmakers, met with Democrats again on Saturday.
‘It was a productive discussion,’ Schumer told reporters at the Capitol Saturday. ‘Now each side knows where, where they’re at. And we are going to work very hard to come to an agreement.’
Pelosi also sent out a dear colleague letter following the meeting.
‘Today’s meeting was more productive than our previous discussions, but no agreement can be reached yet,’ Pelosi wrote.
‘Work will continue on a staff level tomorrow,’ the California Democrat continued.
The Republican proposal included a second round of relief checks for Americans like those $1,200 direct checks sent earlier in the pandemic as part of a previous stimulus package.
It also included more than $100 billion for schools in an effort to reopen in the fall and a stop in evictions for those who are unable to pay their rent.