Democrats, White House at impasse over virus bill
Deal nowhere close as US economy continues to battle fallout from Covid
The top Democrats in congress are not close to a deal with the White House on pumping more money into the US economy to ease the coronavirus’s heavy toll, both sides said on Saturday, after an essential lifeline for millions of unemployed Americans expired.
“This was the longest meeting we had and it was more productive than the other meetings,” Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said. “There are many issues that are still very much outstanding.”
Schumer made the remarks after he and US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi concluded a three-hour meeting with Treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin and White House chief of staff Mark Meadows at the Capitol on Saturday.
Mnuchin said the talks were constructive but had reached an “impasse” over whether to come to a short-term agreement or a more comprehensive deal. The officials would meet again on Monday, after their staff meet on Sunday, Schumer said.
Congress for the past several months has been unable to reach an accord for a next round of economic relief from a pandemic that has killed more than 150,000 Americans and triggered the sharpest economic collapse since the Great Depression.
In a meeting late on Thursday between top White House officials and congressional Democratic leaders, negotiations focused on an extension of the $600 (R10,241) a week in federal unemployment benefits that Americans who lost jobs due to the pandemic have been receiving in addition to state unemployment benefits.
Pelosi said on Friday that she rejected an offer by Republican President Donald Trump’s administration to continue the $600 payments for one more week.
Congressional Democrats want to see the weekly payments extended into 2021 as part of a broader package.
Senate Republicans have said the $600 payments are an incentive to stay home rather than return to work.
Their proposal would provide a much-reduced weekly payment of $200 (R3,413) until states create a system to provide a 70% wage replacement for laid-off workers.
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden on Saturday slammed Trump and senate majority leader Mitch McConnell for letting the Senate go home for the weekend without a deal to extend the unemployment benefits or protect renters facing eviction.
“Because Donald Trump is abdicating his responsibility to lead us out of the pandemic crisis and the economic crisis, we now face a potential housing crisis across the country,” Biden said.
Pelosi told House Democrats in a letter late on Saturday that “all parties must understand the gravity of the situation to reach an agreement that protects Americans’ lives, livelihoods and the life of our democracy”. —