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Washington D.C. — Just days after he called off stimulus bill talks until after the election, President Donald Trump tweeted that he is now supporting a new $1.8 trillion COVID-19 relief bill. On Friday, Oct. 9, Trump said that coronavirus relief negotiations were moving along. President Trump also stressed that the stock market and jobs are coming back at record numbers and that the United States is leading the world in an economic recovery.
In a statement after the president said stimulus talks were off, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said that pausing coronavirus relief talks demonstrates that President Trump is “unwilling to crush the virus, as is required by the Heroes Act.” The new bill on the table has increased from the $1.6 trillion proposed last week.
As both sides continue to be on opposite ends of coronavirus relief talks, Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell stated that Pelosi and the Democrats never made a reasonable offer.
McConnell reinforced that he proposed submitting a bill to the Senate that deals with kids in school, small businesses, and healthcare — but McConnell couldn’t get a single Democrat to sign off on it. Before the president retracted his earlier statement, McConnell was asked to focus solely on approving the president’s Supreme Court nominee, Amy Coney Barrett.
Pelosi doubled down on the Heroes Act in a statement released on Saturday, saying that the Trump proposal is “insufficient in meeting families’ needs.”
Will both sides ever agree on a new deal?
Members of Congress were not available to comment.
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Sources:
- “Trump preparing new $1.8T coronavirus relief package, urges Congress to ‘go big'”
- President Trump on Twitter: on halting aid until after the election
- President Trump on Twitter: on COVID-19 aid talks moving along
- Pelosi Statement on Trump Walking Away From Coronavirus Relief
- Nancy Pelosi press release: “Dear Colleague on Trump Walking Away from Coronavirus Relief”
- Majority leader Mitch McConnell on Twitter: Fox interview on COVID-19 relief
- Nancy Pelosi press release: “Dear Colleague: Update on Coronavirus Relief Negotiations and the Administration’s Insufficient Proposal”
James is published in the oldest African American Newspaper in the United States, The Philadelphia Tribune. In his spare time he writes about sports and plays the piano.
