The White House said Monday that President Trump still wants to negotiate with congressional Democrats on providing emergency coronavirus aid to schools and a second round of direct payments of $1,200 to most Americans, after he took four executive actions last weekend to provide some aid in the wake of failed talks.
“There’s still much more that we’d like to accomplish,” said White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany. “The president would love to see the direct payments to Americans, the president would love to see the school funding.”
Mr. Trump said Monday that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer “want to meet to make a deal” after his executive actions to provide more unemployment benefits and to defer payroll taxes, among other steps. But Democratic leaders say they have not been in touch with the administration.
Ms. McEnany cited a joint statement by Mrs. Pelosi and Mr. Schumer “in the aftermath” of Mr. Trump issuing the executive actions indicating that they “would like to meet halfway.”
“But you know, those are empty words from Democrats,” she said. “So far they’ve just gone in the other direction.”
In the failed talks last week, the White House and Senate Republicans offered $105 billion to help schools reopen safely. Democrats wanted about $400 billion.
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
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