Pelosi blasts GOP over delay in pandemic aid package

WASHINGTON — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Sunday assailed Republican “disarray” over a new pandemic relief package as the White House suggested a narrower effort might be necessary, at least for now.

The San Francisco Democrat panned the Trump administration’s desire to trim an expiring temporary federal unemployment benefit from $600 weekly to about 70% of prepandemic wages. “The reason we had $600 was its simplicity,” she said.

The administration’s chief negotiators — White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin — were returning to the Capitol later Sunday to put what Meadows described as “final touches” on a $1 trillion relief bill Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is likely to bring forward Monday.

Both Mnuchin and Meadows said narrower legislation might need to be passed first to ensure that enhanced unemployment benefits don’t run out for millions of Americans. They cited unemployment benefits, money to help schools reopen, tax credits to keep people from losing their jobs, and lawsuit protections for schools and businesses as priorities.

“We can move very quickly with the Democrats on these issues,” Mnuchin said. “We’ve moved quickly before . .... If there are issues that take longer, we’ll deal with those as well.”

Separately, White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said a federal eviction moratorium on millions of rental units, due to expire at the end of the month, will be extended. “We will lengthen it,” he said, without specifying for how long.

Republicans have argued that federal benefits should be trimmed because the combination of state and federal unemployment assistance left many people better off financially than they were before the pandemic and therefore disinclined to return to their jobs.

Many Democrats contend that a lot of people don’t feel safe going back to work when the coronavirus is surging again around the country.

Pelosi criticized the holdup on the GOP side. House Democrats passed a $3 trillion relief package a couple of months ago, with the aim of jumpstarting negotiations. “They’re in disarray and that delay is causing suffering for America’s families,” she said.

She declined to say whether she could accept 70% of wages in place of the nowexpired $600 weekly benefit. “Why don’t we just keep it simple?” she asked.

The White House and Senate Republicans are racing to regroup after plans to introduce a $1 trillion virus rescue bill collapsed Thursday during GOP infighting over its size, scope and details.

Mnuchin spoke on “Fox News Sunday,” Pelosi appeared on CBS’ “Face the Nation” and Kudlow was interviewed on CNN’s “State of the Union.”