Jubilee Post News & Views
Special Desk
Aiming new coronavirus aid package by the end of the week, the White House officials and top congressional Democrats have planned a meet again.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said after 90 minutes of negotiations that the goal was to finalize the proposal to allow for a vote in Congress next week.
Wednesday will be the third straight day of talks between Mnuchin, White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer.
“We really went down issue by issue by issue, slogging through,” Schumer said after Tuesday’s session. “They made some concessions, which we appreciated. We made some concessions, which they appreciated. We are still far away on a lot of the important issues, but we’re continuing to go at it.”
The two sides have been divided by the size of their proposed aid packages, with Democrats calling for $3.4 trillion in new spending and Republicans wanting to limit it to $1 trillion.
Among the items under discussion are sending out another round of stimulus payments, helping renters avoid eviction, aiding the Postal Service and action to address $600-per-week federal unemployment payments that expired last week.
Republican leaders have proposed passing a smaller aid package that addresses some items while leaving negotiations on others for later. Democrats have dismissed that approach, arguing instead that the federal government needs to take big action to confront the economic challenges facing the country.
The White House criticized Democrats for blocking passage of a short-term bill Friday that would have extended the unemployment benefits for seven days, giving congressional leaders more time to negotiate.
