As 25 million people prepare for the expiration of expanded pandemic unemployment assistance, White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows tried to push back Sunday against speculation that jobless Americans would face loopholes in aid that They receive, and characterized Republican opposition to extending the $ 600 a week federal benefit as an incentive to encourage people to return to the workforce.
“The original unemployment benefit actually paid people to stay home, and actually a lot of people made more money staying home than they were going to return to work, so the president was very clear, our Republican senators They have been very clear, we ‘re not going to extend that provision, “Meadows said on ABC’s” This Week. ”
Meadows explained that the next Republican coronavirus relief package will set unemployment insurance at 70% of pre-pandemic wages, but with that bill delayed last week by disagreements within the Republican group and the Democratic opposition that looming, ABC pressured chief of staff Chief News Anchor George Stephanopoulos on whether those receiving assistance will face a pause in payments after initial benefits expire in late July.
A workaround, as described by Meadows, could be for Congress to approve the time-sensitive components of the package first, and then negotiate the rest later, despite Democrats already voicing opposition to a fragmented process.
“Honestly, I see that we can provide unemployment insurance, perhaps a retention credit to prevent people from being displaced or returned to the workplace; helping with our schools,” said Meadows. “If we can do that, along with liability protection, maybe we will propose it, approve it, and be able to negotiate the rest of the bill in the coming weeks.”
Meadows and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin serve as chief negotiators for the Trump administration on the upcoming coronavirus relief bill, which is expected to be introduced early next week. Mnuchin anticipated details of the legislation for reporters on Thursday, including a second round of direct payments to Americans and unemployment assistance at 70% of one’s wages, but continued discussion between the Republican group delayed the package over the weekend. of week. The chief of staff said the couple will spend part of the day on Capitol Hill again on Sunday working on the legislation.
With positive COVID-19 cases continuing to rise across much of the United States, President Donald Trump is facing calls to curb his pressure for schools to reopen this fall and issue a nationwide face mask mandate. In “This Week,” Meadow said the administration’s focus is on long-term solutions, and said he was “hopeful” that the administration has “very good news on the vaccine and therapeutic front … next days “.
“I think we should obviously focus on trying to make sure that there are therapies, vaccines, a series of mitigation therapies, hopefully for those who suffer from coronaviruses,” he said. “We have been working all day. The president has been very clear: any amount of money, any amount of time that must be invested, we will do it.”
Meadows further argued that intermediate steps, such as facial coverage mandates and reversal of economic reopening plans, while potentially helpful, would not be the efforts to end the pandemic.
“They are not masks. They are not shutting down the economy. Hopefully it is American ingenuity that will allow therapies and vaccines to finally conquer this,” Meadows said.
In response to the pandemic, a large number of states are arranging for their residents to vote in the November elections by mail, a measure that Trump opposed, who has charged, without evidence, that he believes such measures will lead to wide dissemination. fraud. As a result, in an interview with Fox News last week, Trump did not pre-emptively agree to accept the end result of his contest with former Vice President Joe Biden.
“Why does the president continue to question the elections and why will he not say clearly, as all presidents have done before, that he will accept the results,” Stephanopoulos asked Meadows in “This Week.”
“We have not had widespread ballots,” Meadows said, despite the fact that states like Colorado, Oregon, Utah and Washington have successfully used the system before 2020. “You know, Democrats see this as their power panacea. put a ballot in each mailbox and hope for the best. Listen, that’s not the way a voter integrity process should run, where you send a ballot to everyone. “
Stephanopoulos also challenged the chief of staff over warnings issued by the U.S. intelligence community this week about possible foreign interference in the elections, including by Russia, and whether it was a topic of conversation between Trump and Russian President Vladimir. Putin. Meadows did not answer the last question, but noted the “hundreds of millions of dollars” invested in electoral intelligence and security and tried to differentiate between attempts to impact the campaign and successful efforts.
“Now there is a big difference between foreign interference in foreign influence,” he said. “They continue to try to influence, as everyone around the world does, but in terms of really affecting vote total and interacting, I think we are in a good place.”
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