Pelosi Says Congress Should Skip Break to Get Stimulus Deal Done
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Congress should stay in session until lawmakers get an agreement on another stimulus package.
(Bloomberg) -- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Congress should stay in session until lawmakers and the White House get an agreement on another coronavirus stimulus package, something that’s looked increasingly distant amid partisan battling.
“We are committed to staying here until we have an agreement,” Pelosi said Tuesday on CNBC. “We are optimistic that the White House at least will understand that we have to do something.”
Pelosi had earlier delivered that message in a conference call with House Democrats. Some members continued to push for passage of a fresh stimulus bill, beyond what the House approved in May, but Pelosi is resisting that approach, according to two officials who were on the call.
There are multiple hurdles in front of any deal. Democrats aren’t backing away from their $2.2 trillion package and some Senate Republicans have rejected any stimulus approaching even half that. There is also widespread skepticism that there is enough time between now and the November election to negotiate.
President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, said Tuesday that any new stimulus may have to wait until after the Nov. 3 vote.
After Election?
“We do think there is a need for another intervention, we’ve reached out to Congress, we’ve been negotiating,” Kushner said on CNBC. “It may have to happen after the election, because there obviously are politics involved. This is Washington.”
Senator John Thune, the chamber’s No. 2 GOP Republican, told reporters Tuesday that “the clock is running out” on striking a deal.
Failure to enact stimulus could cost the economy significant momentum as it battles back from the historic contraction suffered earlier this year amid widespread lockdowns to contain the coronavirus. Morgan Stanley economists said forgoing an additional round of relief would postpone by half a year the time when activity would return to pre-Covid-19 levels.
House Democratic Caucus Chairman Hakeem Jeffries said at a separate news conference that “the overwhelming consensus among the members is that we stick around” until an agreement is reached.
Neither he nor Pelosi would say what the absolute deadline would be for a deal before the election.
The House is scheduled to break for the election after Oct. 2. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer suggested members would be able to go home and not actually stay in Washington, subject to a recall for any vote. That was the procedure they used during their August break.
Talks between Pelosi, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows broke off Aug. 7 and there have been no meaningful negotiations since then.
A 50-member group of House Democrats and Republicans on Tuesday released their own $1.52 trillion coronavirus stimulus plan in a long-shot attempt to break a months-long deadlock.
The Problem Solvers Caucus plan has been developed for weeks with the knowledge of the White House and leadership from both parties, according to House aides. Mnuchin has referred to the discussions and hinted at a House hearing this month that the White House could accept a $1.5 trillion level of spending.
“None of us want to go anywhere until we can get something done” said New Jersey Democrat Josh Gottheimer, who led the drafting of the plan. New York Representative Tom Reed said the White House has had a “positive” reaction. “They want to get a deal done.”
The group’s proposal offers compromises on the two thorniest issues in the stalled talks. On aid to state and local governments, the group is backing about $500 billion, splitting the difference between the $915 billion sought by Pelosi and Schumer, and the $150 billion put forward by the White House.
On the issue of supplemental unemployment insurance, the group supports $450 per week for eight weeks and then applies a formula for benefits capping them at 100% of previous wages or $600 per week, whichever is lower. Democrats want $600 per week while the White House, citing concerns that such an amount is a disincentive for work, has sought $300 per week.
Democratic leaders have largely ignored the plan and Thune said called part of the proposal “problematic.”
“They’ve still got half a trillion dollars in there for states and local governments, and the overall number is going to be higher than most Republicans would be willing to support,” Thune said at the Capitol.
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