While Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin are in the midst of negotiations regarding another stimulus package, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell reportedly asked the White House not to make another deal before the Nov. 3 election. According to the Washington Post, McConnell reportedly told Senate Republicans that he had warned the White House not to make a major stimulus deal before the election takes place. This news comes as many Americans have been eagerly awaiting more economic assistance from the government amidst the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. As of right now, it has been over seven months since Congress enacted its first and, thus far, the only stimulus package, the CARES Act.
Three people familiar with McConnell’s remarks reported that he is not on board with the White House making a deal on another stimulus package before the Nov. 3 election. The Kentucky Republican reportedly suggested that Pelosi is not acting in good faith amidst her negotiations with Mnuchin. He reportedly believes that any deal they could reach could disrupt the Senate’s plans to confirm Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court. President Donald Trump nominated Barrett to take late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s place on the Supreme Court in early October.
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When asked by reporters on Tuesday that if a stimulus deal was reached and passed by the House with the president’s support, McConnell said that he would put it on the Senate floor “at some point.” Trump also addressed the topic on Tuesday. He was asked about McConnell’s reluctance to come to a stimulus agreement, to which the president responded, “He’ll be onboard if something comes … Not every Republican agrees with me but they will.”
This news comes as Pelosi and Mnuchin are trying to hammer out details of another stimulus package. On Sunday, the speaker set a 48-hour deadline to reach an agreement on the matter. She said that this deadline only applies to a stimulus package that could be enacted before Nov. 3. If they go beyond this 48-hour window, it’s unlikely that they would be able to pass legislation before that election date. “The 48 only relates to if we want to get it done before the election, which we do,” she said. “But we’re saying to them we have to freeze the design on some of these things. Are we going with it or not? And what is the language? I’m optimistic, because again we’ve been back and forth on all this.”
