Steven Mnuchin arrives for a meeting at the U.S. Capitol on Aug. 3.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin head into another round of negotiations on a new virus relief package after talks on Monday yielded “a little bit” of progress despite the wide gap that still remains between Republicans and Democrats.
It was the first glimmer of optimism that the talks over the past week had made some progress, and pressure was growing among lawmakers in both parties to get a deal. But there still was no resolution on some of the most critical issues, including an extension of the supplemental unemployment insurance that has expired.
With the talks dragging on, President Donald Trump on Monday said he was considering executive action to restore a moratorium on evictions that also expired, and the White House was looking at other steps the administration could take without action by Congress.
Trump also said he’s discussing taking action to suspend payroll taxes, something that lawmakers in both parties have rebuffed.
Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer on Aug. 3.
Photographer: Stefani Reynolds/Bloomberg
“We made a little bit of progress,” Mnuchin said after Monday’s two-hour meeting that included Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer and White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows. “The president wants us to get a deal.”
Schumer said there were a lot of issues still outstanding, “But I think there is a desire to get something done as soon as we can.”
Read More: Fragile U.S. Rebound At Risk With Government Aid in Limbo
The negotiators are trying to reconcile differences between the $3.5 trillion Democratic plan passed by the House in May and the $1 trillion package of aid that Senate Republicans introduced last week. Even if they reached a deal this week, it would likely take until next week before the Senate and House vote on it. In the meantime, the $2.2 trillion in stimulus passed in March is drying up.
There were enough hopeful signs coming out of the meeting that Trump said the talks were going well and Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell held off for now on a plan to set up votes on short term extensions of unemployment insurance in order to put pressure on Democrats.
Pelosi told House Democrats on a conference call Monday that there was the potential to strike a deal in the coming days, according to a lawmaker who took part.
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However, Pelosi also said that the White House and Republicans haven’t offered any money for some top Democratic priorities: aid to state and local governments and funding for the November election and the U.S. Postal Service, which will play a key role in the vote as number of mail-in ballots is likely to skyrocket, according to the lawmaker, who asked for anonymity to discuss the contents of the private call.
The negotiations have added urgency before the release this Friday of new unemployment numbers, which may show the effects of the surging virus forcing some states to pull back on plans to allow more businesses to reopen.
A group of U.S. corporate leaders led by Starbucks Corp.’s former head, Howard Schultz, and including the chief executive officers of Walt Disney Co., Merck & Co., Alphabet Inc. and Walmart Inc. warned Congress on Monday that the country would see a “wave of permanent closures” of small businesses if they don’t get additional aid.
Read More: CEOs Warn Congress of Small Business Failures Without More Aid
“There’s pressure on both sides to do something,” Alabama Republican Senator Richard Shelby said. “There’s going to be some people hurting out there.”
Asked whether he’d be willing to go beyond the $1 trillion stimulus that McConnell has proposed, Shelby said, “I wouldn’t want it to, but I think it might have to happen.”
Several Republicans said the Senate would have to postpone its August break, scheduled to begin on Friday, if a deal isn’t reached by mid-week. The House is already on break, but lawmakers there have been told to prepare to return to Washington to vote on a stimulus package.
“I can’t see how we can go home and tell people we’ve failed,” Texas GOP Senator John Cornyn said.
Any deal will have to win the support of a majority of Democrats. They control the House and their votes will be needed in the Senate, where Republicans are divided. McConnell has said as many as 20 GOP senators wouldn’t even support the Republican relief plan.
New Jersey Democratic Senator Bob Menendez said it will take Republicans feeling the “heat at home” to break the impasse.
“It will take Republicans calling into Meadows and Mnuchin and saying, ‘Hey guys, we can’t sustain this,’” he said.
— With assistance by Saleha Mohsin
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