House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is blaming President Donald Trump for inaction on a second stimulus relief bill that would contain a variety of provisions to help Americans in need, from a second round of COVID-19 stimulus checks to extended unemployment benefits.
Meanwhile, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Trump placed blame on Pelosi, saying they don’t believe she wants a deal before the presidential election because she thinks it will give Democrats a political advantage.
“I actually think Nancy would rather wait until after the election. She thinks it’s a good point for the election but I think it’s against her because the American people know it’s her that stopping the money going to them,” Trump said on October 23, according to The New York Post.
“I’d like to see the people get the money. I don’t think she wants the people to get the money before the election,” he went on.
Here’s what you need to know:
Pelosi Blamed Trump for the Lack of an Agreement
GettyU.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
According to Forbes, Pelosi appeared on MSNBC and said she still hoped there would be an agreement on stimulus relief before the election.
She blamed Trump for the lack of agreement, saying he has gone back and forth on whether to negotiate, according to Forbes. Pelosi argued in the appearance that the White House must grant more money for testing and contract tracing to deal with COVID-19 to get a deal out of the Democrats.
“[The White House] must allocate the resources in a way that follows CDC guidelines to crush the virus because everything else we’re talking about will just continue, and perhaps worsen, unless we crush the virus,” she said, according to Forbes.
She added:
We’ve put pen to paper; we’re writing the bill, and hopefully we’ll be able to resolve some of the differences. We could do that before the election if the President wants to. I think he does. I know we do. But we want this to be a bipartisan bill to come to the floor, one that removes all doubt that it would become the law. The President is delusional when he says we’ve turned the corner on [the virus]—we haven’t. We have miles to go.
Mnuchin Said the Ball Is in Pelosi’s Court
GettyU.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin.
The Treasury Secretary said Pelosi is responsible for the lack of a stimulus relief plan.
“We’ve offered compromises. The speaker on a number of issues has still dug in. If she wants to compromise, there will be a deal,” Mnuchin told reporters, according to The New York Post.
He added: “We’ve made lots of progress in lots of areas but there’s still some significant differences that we’re working on.”
According to The Post, the White House sweetened its pot to $1.8 trillion; Pelosi want $2.2 trillion. However, Senate Republicans and the Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell have balked at a price tag that high. Since Congress was granted funding authority by the U.S. Constitution, the White House can’t get a deal done on its own.
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