House Speaker Nancy Pelosi outlined several sticking points in the coronavirus negotiations on Friday, though talks will continue with the White House.
Mrs. Pelosi, California Democrat, and Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin spoke on the phone for about an hour on Friday about the outstanding issues in their negotiations and plan to keep the dialogue open, according to the speaker’s spokesman Drew Hammill.
During an interview on MSNBC Friday morning, Mrs. Pelosi said President Trump’s positive COVID-19 diagnosis might shift momentum in the talks, which collapsed in August and restarted in earnest late last week.
“This kind of changes the dynamic because here they see the reality of what we have been saying all along. This is a vicious virus, and it spreads — as the President has known from the start but, as we have, has been revealed — it’s airborne,” she said.
In a letter to her Democratic members, the speaker said she was waiting on the White House to make a new offer on several key areas of “significant disagreement” which she discussed with Mr. Mnuchin.
Those issues included: funding for unemployment benefits; money for both schools and state and local governments; allocations for the Child Tax Credit and Earned Income Tax Credit; a higher amount for testing and contact tracing resources; and a $44 billion difference in appropriation discretionary funding.
Democrats lowered their initial $3.4 trillion plan to $2.2 trillion, which they codified in a package passed in the House Thursday night. It won’t go anywhere in the GOP-controlled Senate. The bill narrowly passed, with 18 Democrats breaking rank because they wanted a bipartisan solution.
The administration proposed a $1.6 trillion plan this week, which, according to White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, included $250 billion for state and local governments and $150 billion for schools.
• Gabriella Muñoz can be reached at gmunoz@washingtontimes.com.
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