The first negotiations since Election Day for a new coronavirus stimulus package are on tap Tuesday but a deal remains a long shot.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin plans to meet House Speaker Nancy Pelosi about both the effort to avert a government shutdown next week and the long-stalled stimulus package.
© Provided by New York Daily News(L) Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin (R) House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.)
(L) Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin (R) House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.)
"There's more work to be done," Mnuchin said on Capitol Hill. "I'd urge Congress to pass something quickly to make sure we get something done."
Mnuchin said the first priority is to hammer out a spending bill that is needed to keep the government operating passed next Friday.
The White House negotiator also said he would mention the long-stalled stimulus to Pelosi. But he stressed that wasn't the main topic for their sit down.
Translation: Don't count on getting another $1,200 check from Uncle Sam anytime soon.
Even though all sides agree that more help is needed to boost the sputtering economy, hopes are slim that a deal will be reached before Trump leaves office.
Talks collapsed before Election Day despite Trump's public insistence that he wanted an even bigger package than the one worth about $2 trillion that Mnuchin and Pelosi were haggling over.
Powerful Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell rejected that package out of hand, moving ahead instead with a puny $500 billion measure.
With Trump now a lame duck, McConnell would appear to have more power than ever to block a deal he considers too expensive.
Pelosi, who rejected the White House offer of a deal worth about $2 trillion, is thought to have overplayed her hand after the election. But instead, Democrats lost seats in the House of Representatives and Republicans held onto the Senate for now, giving her little leverage in the talks.
A bipartisan group of Congressional moderates Tuesday put forward a proposal worth about $900 billion. It includes a slimmed-down grab bag of measures popular with both parties and is billed as a stopgap measure to keep the economy moving into the next year.
A separate $1.5 trillion compromise proposal put forward by the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus failed to gain traction.
Hopes are higher for the spending bill, which must be passed by Dec. 11. One key stumbling block is Trump's opposition to a provision backed by both parties in Congress to rename military bases named after Confederate officers.
Some players have suggested tacking on some of the most popular COVID-19 stimulus measures onto that bill. But that approach will likely face withering criticism from Democrats who are pushing for a full package to boost the economy, especially with President-elect Joe Biden taking office in January.