House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Democrats are trying to forge ahead with a smaller coronavirus stimulus package costing $2.4 trillion.
The amount is about $1 trillion less than the package the House passed in May, but more than what the Trump Administration has signaled it will accept. According to CNBC, the legislation is sure to include direct payments to Americans, unemployment benefits and a new round of Paycheck Protection Program funding.
Pelosi has been pushing Treasury Secretary Stephen
Mnuchin and White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows to increase the Trump Administration’s initial $1.3 trillion offer by another $1 trillion. Mnuchin, however indicated the administration would not approve a bill that costs more than $1.5 trillion.“When I have a conversation with the administration, it is in good faith. I trust Secretary Mnuchin to represent something that can reach a solution, and I believe we can come to an agreement,” Pelosi said in an interview on CNN.
“However, at some point, the public is going to have to see why $2.2 or now $2.4 trillion dollars is necessary,” Pelosi added. “The president’s denial of the virus and just resistance to doing anything to crush it has made matters worse … So we may need more money than that. And we will reveal what that is in a short period of time.”
Senate Republicans tried to push their own package, but the bill failed the first procedural vote over Democratic objections. The Senate bill does not include state and local government assitance, food assistance, a smaller federal unemployment benefit and a second relief check to Americans.
The coronavirus has claimed more than 200,000 American lives, the unemployment rate is still above 8% and the stock market is unstable
Despite the stack of failed relief packages, Pelosi believes the government can come together at a time where the government is entering a fight for the next Supreme Court Justice and the next presidential election is coming up fast.
“I think we have a chance to get something done and we want to,” Pelosi told CNBC. “What we will be putting forth is an offer to say, now let us negotiate within a time frame and a dollar amount to get the job done to put money in people’s pockets, to honor our heroes and to crush the virus.”