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Pelosi, White House see progress on COVID-19 aid talks; Senate Republicans wary

Published 10/22/2020, 08:59 AM
Updated 10/22/2020, 05:56 PM
© Reuters. U.S. House Speaker Pelosi departs a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington

© Reuters. U.S. House Speaker Pelosi departs a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington

By David Morgan and Susan Cornwell

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday said negotiators were making progress in talks with the White House for another round of COVID-19 stimulus, but Senate Republicans remained skeptical of a possible deal costing trillions of dollars.

"I think we're not going anywhere. A lot of talk, no action," Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby told reporters.

Pelosi, the top Democrat in Congress, was expected to resume negotiations at some point with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, as the two sides try to reach a deal that could be worth around $2 trillion before the Nov. 3 presidential and congressional election.

But the speaker told reporters late on Thursday afternoon that she and Mnuchin had not spoken during the day, and that she was waiting to receive some guidance from chairs of congressional committees. "We’re waiting to hear back from the committee chairs. That’s really what’s missing," Pelosi said.

Republican President Donald Trump, who has recently called for more stimulus as he trails Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden in national opinion polls, appeared to cast doubt on a deal on Wednesday by saying he could not see any way for Democrats to agree on a stimulus package.

"Their primary focus is BAILING OUT poorly run (and high crime) Democrat cities and states," Trump wrote on Twitter.

But on Thursday morning, White House spokeswoman Alyssa Farah told Fox Business Network: "This is really the most optimistic we've felt about getting a deal."

White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow cautioned there were still "significant policy differences" with Democrats on state and local government funding and liability issues, and said these were unlikely to be resolved before Nov. 3.

After pushing through more than $3 trillion in spending meant to address the human and economic toll of a pandemic that has now killed more than 221,000 Americans https://graphics.reuters.com/world-coronavirus-tracker-and-maps, Congress since April has been unable to agree on further actions.

Senate Republicans have repeatedly rejected the sort of trillion-dollar-plus packages now under discussion, while Democrats have dismissed smaller efforts as insufficient.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, the top Republican in Congress, does not want to bring a large bill to the Senate floor before the election, as he focuses on trying to confirm Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett.

Shelby, the appropriations committee chairman, said he had yet to see any details of the proposals that Pelosi and Mnuchin had been batting around. He said White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows had tried to call him, but they had not connected, and Meadows had been in touch with some of his staff.

"It's about three or four minutes to midnight on the clock here. I don't see much doing. It could always be a miracle, but not very many around here," he said.

Pelosi said the two sides were narrowing differences on how to attack the pandemic and on aid to state and local governments, which has been a major hurdle.

She said talks were also focused on aid to schools and on tax credits to help lower-income Americans hit hard by the pandemic, which has left millions jobless.

Pelosi acknowledged an aid agreement would need Republican support: "We have to have strong bipartisanship on the legislation that we come together on. I would hope that we could have bipartisanship in the House and in the Senate."

© Reuters. U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell walks through the U.S. Capitol in Washington

Republican Senator Marco Rubio said he would be "very uncomfortable" with a big aid package in an interview with CNBC, but also acknowledged: "That said, I think the price of not doing something is even higher."

Latest comments

make the senate deny unemployed needed monies week before election.
Career Politicans = No Change! We need term limits for all branches of government.
C'mon Man... You know who the Big Guy is..Tired of corupt politicians.Term limits for Congressman 10 years and 12 years for Senators. Supreme Court Justices limited to 25 years and must give 5 year notice for retirement.
c&p this post every day doesn't make it anymore logical
they are going to drop it right on the Senate's lap before the election.
The primary reason why they are still negotiating is that the democrats want Trump to include a bailout for those crazy democrat states which have been run into the ground by psychopaths. You know the ones that want to disband their police and be friends with the mob/terrorists.
i need you do that comparrison. Clearly you have not. Net federal dollars (all forms), California and NY are net recipients of federal tax dollars. FL is footing their bill.
we are the economy in california and new york!!!
Nope. Net federal funding per resident is the correct measure. CA is $12,NY is -$1792, and FL is $2187. https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/federal-aid-by-state
Term Limits would curb this nonsense.
Never happen. If only.
May 2021: "Optimism about stimulus high, as Democrats and Republicans lean to an agreement". Just doing the job for Reuters and most media out there, no need to say thank you. Ps. Just change the word optimistic for hope and post it every day of the month. Cheers.
the airlines shouldn't get any help from us. they have everyone's money from cancelled trips.
and for my luggage and bag fees, one elder woman even gave me water in the plane
They should never be allowed to do stock buybacks ever again. They waste all the bailout money they get.
 Then no one will invest in them, it will be easier to nationalize immediately, but state-owned companies are usually ineffective, there is no motivation to develop someone else's business in which you cannot invest your funds.
no deal until after ELECTION MICTH MCCONNELL already told us
you want to conditional your vote for trump?. the deal is for COVID aid not for trump votation. go away
Can anybody help me with my question? I'm a foreigner. Why does the House Speaker Pelosi have to negotiate with Treasury Secretary Steven for legislating the Corona relief bill? Two different bodies of the government. Legislative body (House Speaker) and Executive body (Treasury Secretary). Why does the legislative body need a permission from the executive body? Please explain like im 5
Welcome to the biggest Banana Republic on this earth.
 In authoritarian countries, one person decides everything. Maybe, for example, spend all the money on his friends and no one will stop him. The counterweight makes the system more reliable, but also less fast.
No offense but do you have a back up for this?
Why don't these utterly worthless politicians just do something. They spend more time giving their useless opinions on how things are going than actually doing anything. A major accomplishment for this 110 year old hag is getting out of bed in the morning and applying 9 pounds of make up.
Lol if I can manipulate the market just by giving opinions I'd tweet it out every 5 minutes
I'm optimistic the Easter bunny is coming too.
thats OAC Not once.
if Biden and kamala refuse to have press conferences within 60 days of a presidential election. why should Nancy do her job? Same for worthless Schumer, once, and the m u l im preacher.
The only relief she can give America is for her to STEP DOWN. She is a worthless politician.
i am reading this 40 days in a row
I dont believe her
Behind in the polls. Lmao. Ok. Like in 2016? Lies lies and more lies
Amazing how many comments are Anti-American ****propaganda. "let americans burn" "let the government collapse" "who cares if 300,000 Americans die" "death to America" "aaarrrggghh" Its the same stuff Iran, China, North Korea, Russia and others push. People see who the enemies are.
Is it time for the 3pm dump yet?
I hope they don't give Nancy the government bailouts she included
Going on for 5 months... these people are sick
I recently went to my local town hall. Very few employees were there. I asked, did the city lay off a bunch of people? I was told, no, most are working from home. Local governments it appears have less incentive than businesses to trim their budgets because, even though tax revenues are way down, they know the democrats will bail them out no matter what happens. Business as usual!
Ridiculous comment
"We're coming closer to what we must do: crush the virus, honor our heroes, our state and local governments," Pelosi said. I think we can all agree that by throwing another 2 trillion into the dumpster fire will certainly "crush the virus". LOL.
I assume the thumbs down don't see the sarcasm in your post
Seems we found the cure. Throw some bucks in the virus face and it will die
I am really sorry that US citizens have to deal with this political games.... How it is possible that Dems and Reps put their interests and ambitions in front of the country well being... it is really sad
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