White House says not optimistic on near-term deal for coronavirus relief bill

[webfact]

White House says not optimistic on near-term deal for coronavirus relief bill

By Doina Chiacu and Tim Ahmann

 

FILE PHOTO: White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows speaks to reporters during a news briefing at the White House in Washington, U.S., July 31, 2020. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows said on Sunday he was not optimistic on reaching agreement soon on a deal for the next round of legislation to provide relief to Americans hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic.

 

"I'm not optimistic that there will be a solution in the very near term," Meadows said on CBS' "Face the Nation" as staff members from both sides were meeting to try to iron out differences over the bill.

 

Democrats were standing in the way of a separate agreement to extend some federal unemployment benefits in the short-term while negotiations continue on an overall relief package, he said.

 

"We continue to see really a stonewalling of any piecemeal type of legislation that happens on Capitol Hill," Meadows said. "Hopefully that will change in the coming days."

 

Lawmakers and the White House have 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.

 

Lawmakers and the White House have been unable to reach a deal on the next coronavirus aid package. The biggest sticking point: $600 per week in extra federal benefits for people who were laid off from their jobs. Lisa Bernhard produced this report.

 

Both sides said on Saturday they had their most positive talks yet. But there was no sign of movement on the biggest sticking point - $600 per week in extra federal unemployment benefits for Americans that has been a lifeline for millions of jobless Americans and expired on Friday.

 

Asked about efforts to renew the expired emergency federal jobless benefits, Pelosi said, referring to Trump: "He's the one standing in the way of that."

 

Pelosi, who also highlighted the need for assistance for state and local governments, stood firm in her demand that Congress renew the $600 per week jobless aid. She told ABC's "This Week" that when unemployment drops, the federal support could fall too.

 

"As that goes down, then you can consider something less than the $600, but in this agreement it's $600," she said. "It's essential for America's working families."

 

The Trump administration and some Senate Republicans have been pushing for a reduction in those extra federal benefits, saying they should be tied to wages. Other Senate Republicans have rejected any extension.

 

Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin told ABC Trump supports the enhanced benefits but does not want people to make more when they are unemployed than they would if they had a job.

 

"I think on the concept, we absolutely agree on enhanced unemployment. We want to fix the issue where in some cases people are overpaid and we want to make sure there's the right incentives," Mnuchin said.

 

There is a need to support workers and the economy, he said, but "we have to be careful about not piling on enormous amount of debts for future generation."

 

The House of Representatives, controlled by Democrats, proposed their version of relief legislation in May. The Republican-led U.S. Senate did not make a counter-proposal until last week and even Republicans do not agree among themselves on what should be in the bill.

 

Mnuchin told reporters on Saturday the talks were constructive but had reached an "impasse" over whether to come to a short-term agreement to extend the federal jobless benefit or a more comprehensive deal.

 

The officials will meet again on Monday, after their staff meet on Sunday.

 

(Reporting by Doina Chiacu; Editing by Steve Orlofsky and Daniel Wallis)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-08-03

 

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[Tug]

Don’t think that stance is going to work out for trump unless the goal is to force martial law when the states can’t pay their police forces the hospitals close and hoards of angry homeless families are roaming the streets I pray it doesent come to that 

[Srikcir]

Majority Senate leader Mitch McConnell recently recessed the Senate. If there's to be any bill legislation from the Senate for coronavirus relief he has to call Senators back to DC to vote.

Remote voting is not currently allowed (though the Senate could have passed a rule to allow it as recommended by Democrats). 

So Mitch has in effect shutdown any near-term bill passage in response to the House bill passed months ago!

[mlmcleod]

Trump and Moscow Mitch got exactly the result they wanted.  The Republicans did not favor any extension of benefits but they did want to blame the Democrats for delaying the process.

 

Vote in November if Trump allows!

[Cryingdick]

18 hours ago, Tug said:

Don’t think that stance is going to work out for trump unless the goal is to force martial law when the states can’t pay their police forces the hospitals close and hoards of angry homeless families are roaming the streets I pray it doesent come to that 

 

You mean the states that are defunding the police? Another thing at play is nobody wants to be a cop now. The cops hate the mayors as much as the blacks hate them.

 

But yeah there are some states that are going to be in very deep doo doo very very soon. The governments will not be able to hide the real impact of the virus for much longer. Maybe they can salvage some of the statues for scrap and sell them on Ebay. 

 

The thing is it isn't just a handful of places that are desperate for a bail out. The money needed to bail out all the major and mid sized cities simply doesn't exist. If you don't get local news you won't hear how bad things are. The clock of reckoning is going tick tock. 

 

$600 a week unemployment not counting what the state gives out is absurd. This has to be stopped before they try to make it a permanent UBI. I would love to get that for doing nothing but that's a fairytale. 

 

Seems they agreed on $1,200 more per adult in the USA. This is a tremendous waste of resources. I will be cashing mine as well every member here. This should only be for people who have their income interrupted and below a lower threshold say $40,000 a year and they should be residing in the USA.

 

Pelosi is the one playing hard ball and wouldn't agree to a temporary measure. This is on her and we all know when she goes on vacation she has plenty of ice cream in her gourmet sub zero. 

 

The money is running out and the mental illness caused by the lock down is growing everyday with the murder rates. A lot of people did some pretty stupid things lately and the government won't be able to shield them from their own self destructive behavior forever. 

 

The real riots should start up with in a month if no more welfare is handed out.

[Meat Pie 47]

I guess Trump should join Cirque du Soleil but I think he is not fit enough

[bendejo]

Something strange is afoot.  This past Sunday the WH put out a bunch of pessimistic announcements re Covid-19.  Quite a break from the "it's a hoax" to the "it's just a flu" to the "it's practically gone" con game.  Not sure what they're reaching for.  The guy with the answer would be Steve Bannon, what's his TVF handle?