Speaker Nancy Pelosi reportedly set a stimulus bill agreement “deadline” for Tuesday, but she now denies doing so. However, she has officially set a new Election Day timeline for the bill. Pelosi shared the news during an interview with Bloomberg TV.
As far as agreeing on the bill, Pelosi said that both sides should “have our terms on the table” by the end of the day. According to journalist Jake Sherman, Pelosi has said that the bill needs to be written by the end of this week if they want to have it in time for Election Day. Otherwise, she believes it will “slip.” This news comes as Pelosi and U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin have been engaged in on-and-off negotiations over a new stimulus since August. The pair have ramped up their talks over the past few weeks, and have both indicated that they believe an agreement may be near.
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WHAT DEADLINE? … PELOSI says on Bloomberg TV that there isn’t actually a deadline today. Today is the day where the two sides would “have our terms on the table.”
So on we go.
— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) October 20, 2020
Even though Pelosi and Mnuchin may eventually agree, that does not mean that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and other Republican leaders will support it, as many GOP lawmakers have already expressed criticism over bills proposed by House Democrats and the Trump Administration. McConnell has drafted his own bill and plans to have the Senate vote on it this week. The $500 billion “skinny” bill is designed to meet the American public’s direst needs, per McConnell, but it does not include the second round of stimulus bills.
A proposal from the White House would have sent $1,200 checks to American citizens and added a $400 per week boost to those on unemployment benefits. It also would have increased the amount of money for dependents to $1,000, up from the CARES Act’s $500. However, Democrats have stood firm on wanting to get the unemployment amount back to $600 and for the amount given for dependents to be $1,200. On the flip side, Republican leaders were critical due to their desire for the next bill to be cheaper than what Democrats and the Trump administration have proposed so far.
