/https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/imageserve/5f2704f185b8821a7da385f1/0x0.jpg?cropX1=0&cropX2=5442&cropY1=218&cropY2=3279&w=1920&resize=1920,0&ssl=1 "WH Chief Of Staff ‘Not Optimistic’ About Coronavirus Stimulus Deal ‘In The Very Near Term’")
TOPLINE
White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows on Sunday expressed pessimism about ongoing stimulus bill negotiations between Democrats and Republicans as the two parties reach an impasse on a number of key policy areas.
WASHINGTON, DC – JULY 30: White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows talks to reporters after meeting … [+]
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KEY FACTS
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) both called Saturdays meetings “productive,” but Schumer added “We’re not close yet.”
While agreeing with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) that the latest round of meetings were “the best discussions we’ve had so far,” Meadows said on CBS’s Face The Nation that negotiations “still have a long way to go.”
“Yesterday was a step in the right direction… but I’m not optimistic that there will be a solution in the very near term,” Meadows added.
The two parties are divided on numerous issues, most notably unemployment benefits, with Democrats pushing for an extension of the $600-a-week benefits from the CARES Act and Republicans pushing various, more piecemeal unemployment insurance measures such as $200-a-week and a one-week extension of the $600 benefits.
Pelosi and Schumer have also advocated for nearly $1 trillion in aid to state and local governments for unemployment insurance and direct cash payments–a non-starter for Republicans.
Republicans are also a “hard no” on a Democratic proposal to create a new mail-in balloting system amid President Trump’s fierce denunciations of mail-in voting, and they have also proposed an injection of $5 billion to the U.S. Postal Service as a counter to Democrats’ $25 billion ask, Politico’s Jake Sherman reported.
Crucial Quote
“We will be close to an agreement when we have an agreement,” Pelosi said on ABC’s This Week Sunday. She has been pushing for a comprehensive plan to combat the spread of coronavirus, which she said “is one of the points we still have not come to any agreement on.”
Big Number
8 or 9. As White House officials battle it out with Democrats over the stimulus, the president is hitting the links at his Virginia golf course this weekend. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin told reporters that the president is “fully available to negotiators working towards a Covid-19 relief deal,” NBC’s Kelly O’Donnell reported. Mnuchin reportedly added that he and Meadows have spoken to the president 8 or 9 times this weekend about the negotiations.
What To Watch For
Pelosi and Schumer are expected to continue negotiations with Meadows and Mnuchin and on Monday. “We’re going to work every day until we reach a reasonable agreement that’s good for the American public,” Mnuchin told ABC on Sunday, adding that the White House is “acting very quickly now.”
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