House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday she’s confident Democratic nominee Joseph R. Biden will win the presidency and shift the federal response to the pandemic, but says she still wants a stimulus deal before January.
“I feel very confident that Joe Biden will be elected president on Tuesday,” Mrs. Pelosi told reporters at her weekly press conference. “So while we don’t want to be overconfident or assume anything, we have to be ready for how we’re going to go down a different paths come to a fork in the road when it comes to the coronavirus. The president is taking us on a deadly path.”
Mrs. Pelosi, California Democrat, has repeatedly rejected proposals from Republicans to do a slimmed down or narrow coronavirus relief bills, arguing that it’s not enough to adequately address the economic upheaval or physical risk to the public.
And negotiations for an elusive fifth relief package have stalled once again.
“We’re not talking size. We’re talking quality,” Mrs. Pelosi said about a potential lame duck deal. “And we are not going to take a small bill that has the bulk of reinforcing funds the richest people in America while questioning the integrity of people on unemployment insurance.”
Though Mrs. Pelosi remains opposed to any “skinny” deal like the $500 billion package considered in the Senate, the speaker says she wants to get something done before, as she predicts, Mr. Biden potentially takes office for two reasons: to get aid to the public quickly and to free up room on the legislative calendar in 2021.
She highlighted bringing up election reform, which Democrats attempted to pass in March 2019, as one of the first priorities to work on with a potential Biden administration.
“We want to we want to have as clean a slate as possible going into January,” she said.
President Trump, confident of his chances against Mr. Biden, said he thinks the election will give the GOP more leverage in the talks.
“After the election, we’ll get the best stimulus package you’ve ever seen, because I think we’re going to take back the House because of [Mrs. Pelosi],” he said Tuesday.
• Tom Howell Jr. contributed to this report.
• Gabriella Muñoz can be reached at gmunoz@washingtontimes.com.
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