Stimulus Check Talks: White House Reportedly Makes ‘Concessions’ Towards Reaching a Deal

As talks around a second stimulus check are ongoing in Washington D.C., the White House is agreeing to make some “concessions” towards reaching a deal. Democrat leaders House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer have been meeting with Trump administration officials Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and White House chief of staff Mark Meadows in order to negotiate a deal. While CNBC reports that “no agreement” had been made yet, the outlet also notes that the White House is said to have made acknowledgments regarding unemployment insurance and other issues.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said he is prepared to support whatever agreement is reached between the Democrats and the White House. “Wherever this thing settles between the president of the United States and his team, that have to sign it into law, and the Democrat not insignificant minority in the Senate and majority in the House, is something I’m prepared to support even if I have some problems with certain parts of it,” McConnell said. “We’re making progress,”Schumer added, explaining how the meetings went.

“We really went down issue by issue by issue, slogging through them,” Schumer continued. “They made some concessions, which we appreciated. We made some concessions, which they appreciated. We’re still far away on a lot of the important issues, but we’re continuing to go at it.”

Pelosi has been fervently critical of the Republicans for what she sees as slow action on getting a new coronavirus relief bill passed. “Ten weeks ago, Democrats passed The Heroes Act, which contains the solution to defeating the virus and safely reopening the country: supporting our heroes, crushing the virus and putting money in Americans’ pockets.” She wrote in an official statement. “But for ten weeks, the Senate GOP has said just ‘pause.’ Once again, they have delayed releasing their plan. Children are hungry, families cannot pay the rent, unemployment is expiring and the Republicans want to pause again and go piecemeal.”

Pelosi’s continued: “We have stood ready to negotiate for more than two months. Unfortunately, it still remains unclear if Republicans will produce a proposal today. I call upon the Republican leadership of the House and Senate and representatives of the President to come to the Speaker’s Office and join Leader Schumer and me within a half an hour of releasing their plan today to negotiate and get the job done. If Republicans care about working families, this won’t take long. Time is running out. Congress cannot go home without an agreement.”