ADVERTISEMENT

Pelosi Optimistic on Virus Deal After Trump Agrees to Oversight

Nancy Pelosi optimistic that Congress will soon reach a deal on a measure to fight economic fallout from the coronavirus outbreak

Pelosi Optimistic on Virus Deal After Trump Agrees to Oversight
U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat from California, speaks outside of her office on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S (Photographer: Andrew Harnik/AP Photo/Bloomberg)

(Bloomberg) --

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she’s optimistic Congress will soon reach a deal on a massive stimulus measure to fight economic fallout from the coronavirus outbreak, after the Trump administration agreed to independent oversight of a fund to support companies.

“Everybody knows the overarching view is we have to get this done,” Pelosi said in a CNBC interview.

Pelosi Optimistic on Virus Deal After Trump Agrees to Oversight

She said that it appears the Senate had agreed to accept language in a House version of the bill that would create both an independent inspector general and a congressionally appointed five-person panel to supervise money the bill provides to companies. Two people familiar with the matter said the administration had agreed to oversight of the fund for companies, but said details remained to be resolved.

The size of the U.S. stimulus package is unprecedented -- at $1.8 trillion, dwarfing the approximately $800 billion Obama stimulus, which wasn’t passed until five months after the 2008 financial crash. House Democrats want to go bigger, with a $2.5 trillion plan that would amount to more than a tenth of U.S. gross domestic product.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer were expected to meet this morning in Washington to continue negotiations, according to two people familiar with the matter.

The nation’s economy is deteriorating with dizzying speed as the health outlook grows more dire. U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams bluntly warned Monday on NBC’s “Today Show”’: “This week, it’s going to get bad.”

There were more than 46,000 cases of the disease in the U.S. as of Tuesday and nearly 600 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University. The World Health Organization warned earlier in the day that the U.S. may become the epicenter of the global outbreak.

‘I’ll Be the Oversight’

Democrats had criticized Republicans’ original proposal for corporate assistance as a “slush fund” for companies that would be controlled by the White House. And Trump has declined to rule out his own hotel and resort company, the Trump Organization, drawing money from the fund.

Trump dismissed the need for independent oversight at a White House news conference Monday evening.

“Look, I’ll be the oversight. I’ll be the oversight,” he said at the time. “We’re going to make good deals. We make good deals. But these companies need it.”

Pelosi says she hopes to have an agreement within hours that can pass the House by unanimous consent, without the need to bring lawmakers back to Washington to vote.

The Senate version of the bill would make direct government payments of $1,200 to most middle-class individuals and $500 per child. After negotiations with Senate Democrats, the most recent version boosts unemployment assistance and extends its availability, although Democrats continue to push for more generous funding. Pelosi has sought direct payments of $1,500 per American.

Pelosi has also called for provisions to force lenders to grant holidays for mortgage and car payments.

Pelosi has also sought to require airlines receiving government aid to cut their carbon emissions, for large businesses receiving loans to pay a minimum wage of $15 per hour, and to require states to allow voting by mail. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell called these proposals “an encyclopedia of unrelated demands.”

Pelosi acknowledged on Tuesday that she may not see her voting proposal or a proposal to boost food stamps in a final deal.

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.