Friday, July 31, 2020

White House Has Submitted 'Four Different Offers' On Stimulus Which Dems Have Ignored

While the White House and Congressional Republicans work towards a temporary extension of lapsing unemployment benefits, Democrats continue to reject the stopgap measures according to White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows.

"At the president's direction, we have made no less than four different offers" on unemployment insurance as well as a moratorium on evictions, Meadows said at a Friday White House briefing reported by Bloomberg.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Friday that negotiations with Meadows and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin will continue, but that there can be no stopgap measures without significant progress on an overall package.

"The Republicans said they wanted to take a pause. Well, the virus didn't," said Pelosi at her own Friday briefing - which she conveniently held at the same time as Meadows was speaking.

Republicans want to cut the benefit in the next stimulus package to a portion of lost wages.

Meadows said Thursday that the White House was flexible on the amount of the extension.

At present, the GOP stimulus plan sits at around $1 trillion, while House Democrats are angling for a $3.5 trillion package that would allocate funds for states and local governments struggling due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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