Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin Reveals White House Is Open to More Coronavirus Aid Talks With Democrats

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has revealed that the White House is open to more coronavirus aid talks with Democrat leaders. While speaking to CNBC’s Squawk on the Street, Mnuchin addressed the negotiation breakdown from last week, saying, “The president is determined to spend what we need to spend,” He added, “We’re prepared to put more money on the table.”

Mnuchin and White House Chief-of-Staff Mark Meadows had been negotiating the details of the next stimulus package with the nation’s two top Democrat leaders, Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. However, talks broke down after the two sides were not able to reach an agreement. During his new interview, Mnuchin stated that he believed that Pelosi and Schumer were “willing to compromise,” and added, “Again, if we can get a fair deal we’re willing to do it this week.” Mnuchin’s new comments come after President Donald Trump signed executive orders on student loan debt, unemployment benefits, and evictions, in the wake of the relief bill negotiation stall.

Earlier in the week, things appeared to be progressing well. At one point, Schumer told reporters, “We’re making progress,” Schumer previously said. “We really went down issue by issue by issue, slogging through them. 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.”

Following the negotiations hitting an impasse, Schumer added, “The House doesn’t have the votes to go south of $2 trillion, the Senate Democrats can’t go south of 2 trillion, so that’s what compromise is all about. Because there are 20 Republicans who don’t want to vote anything that doesn’t mean the whole thing should shift in their direction. You have to meet in the middle.”Pelosi also commented, saying, “When you’re having an opportunity like this to do something for the American people, it’s an opportunity, but we can’t have it be a missed opportunity to do that by settling for something so low, so beneath meeting the needs of the American people.”