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WASHINGTON: A new offer of coronavirus aid from the White House received poor reviews from both ends of the political spectrum on Saturday (October 10).
The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, rejected the most generous Trump administration plan to date as “one step forward, two steps back.” Republicans who control the Senate dismissed it as too expensive and a political loser for conservatives.
Pelosi said she is still hopeful that progress can be made toward a deal, but it’s as clear as ever that Republican conservatives don’t want a deal on their terms.
The White House had pushed its offer before Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Pelosi spoke on Friday afternoon. President Donald Trump is eager for a deal before Election Day, even as his most powerful Republican ally in the Senate said Congress is unlikely to provide relief by then.
“The Covid Relief negotiations are moving forward. Go big! “Trump said Friday on Twitter.
The new offer is worth about $ 1.8 trillion, attendees familiar with it said, with a key component of state and local tax relief moving from $ 250 billion to at least $ 300 billion. The White House says its most recent bid before that was for about $ 1.6 trillion. The aides were not authorized to publicly discuss private negotiations and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Pelosi’s most recent public offering was for about $ 2.2 trillion, although that included a corporate tax increase that Republicans will not accept.
In a letter on Saturday to her colleagues, Pelosi said: “This proposal amounted to one step forward, two steps back. When the president talks about wanting a bigger aid package, his proposal seems to mean that he wants more money at his discretion to award or withhold. “
She said that while her administration tried to address some of the Democratic concerns, disagreement remained on many priorities and Democrats are “waiting for language” on various provisions.
“Despite these unresolved concerns, I am hopeful that yesterday’s events will move us closer to an agreement on an aid package that addresses the health and economic crisis facing American families,” said Pelosi’s letter.
Mnuchin’s latest offer also received approval from Republican senators, who intervened in a conference call Saturday morning, according to a Republican familiar with the call who was not authorized to discuss the call publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. Many conservatives are skeptical of so much deficit-funded aid in the first place, and provisions requested by Pelosi, such as expanding eligibility for the Affordable Care Act, landed with a thud.
Pragmatists like Sen. Rob Portman and Republicans in political jeopardy, including Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, seem willing to “go big” as Trump wants. But grassroots Republicans – Senators Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, Rick Scott of Florida and John Barrasso of Wyoming, for example – are adamantly opposed to another aid bill that is just as generous.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell remains skeptical about the chances of a deal, having told an audience in Kentucky on Friday that he did not see a deal being finalized before Election Day.
“I think it’s unlikely in the next three weeks,” McConnell said Friday. He later said that “the Senate’s first priority issue is the Supreme Court,” suggesting that there is no time to process both a relief bill and the nomination of Justice Amy Coney Barrett to the superior court before the 3 election. of November.
President Donald Trump has been all over the map, first as one of the forces for a deal, then killing the talks on Tuesday, only to revive them at the end of the weeks.
On Tuesday, he ordered the week-long talks to end after being told that few Republicans in Congress would end up voting for a possible Pelosi-Mnuchin deal. Now, after a political beating, Trump is pushing hard for a deal, motivated by the prospect of sending direct payments of $ 1,200 to voters before November.
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