Nancy Pelosi says she's hopeful she can reach a deal to send Americans another stimulus check BEFORE the election - but only if Trump compromises on his demands
Nancy Pelosi says she's hopeful she can reach a deal with Republicans to approve a new round of stimulus checks before the November 3 election.
'We're writing the bill and we could do this before the election if the president wants to,' the House Speaker told MSNBC on Friday.
She added: 'I think he does, I know we do, but we want this to be a bipartisan bill.'
However, Pelosi admits that she will only agree to a deal that 'respects science' and provides proper funding to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.
'I think Republicans are about to embrace the science in a substantial way... The President is delusional when he says we have turned the corner on this the . We haven't. We have miles to go,' she stated.
Nancy Pelosi says she's hopeful she can reach a deal with Republicans to approve a new round of stimulus checks before the November 3 election - but President Trump will have to concede on some of his demands
"The biggest step forward ... in the negotiations is I think they're about to embrace the science in a substantial way," Speaker Pelosi says about reaching a bipartisan relief bill. pic.twitter.com/5BRzn3GBMi
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) October 23, 2020
"The biggest step forward ... in the negotiations is I think they're about to embrace the science in a substantial way," Speaker Pelosi says about reaching a bipartisan relief bill. pic.twitter.com/5BRzn3GBMi
Republicans and Democrats still remain split on what kind of funding should be included in the new $2 billion relief bill, and Pelosi may be naively optimistic that the opposition will agree to her demands.
Following her MSNBC appearance, Trump told reporters that she should be the one to compromise.
'We're talking and we'll see what happens but at this moment I would say that I actually think Nancy would rather wait 'til after the election,' Trump told reporters in an Oval Office appearance together with Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin.
'If she wants to compromise, there will be a deal,' Mnuchin said.
'She wants to bail out poorly run Democrat states - they're poorly run both in terms of crime and in terms of economics. And we just don't want that. We want COVID related,' Trump said.
Even if a deal is reached before the election, it may still take several more weeks for checks to be sent out to the American people.
'She wants to bail out poorly run Democrat states - they're poorly run both in terms of crime and in terms of economics. And we just don't want that. We want COVID related,' Trump stated. He is pictured on the campaign trail on Friday
Pelosi has been negotiating with Mnuchin to try to reach an agreement that could be worth around $2 trillion before the presidential and congressional election.
Congressional committees and staff will work on a possible deal through the weekend, and Pelosi and Mnuchin 'will speak again once additional progress is made,' Pelosi's spokesman, Drew Hammill, wrote on Twitter Friday evening.
Senate Republicans are skeptical of a possible deal costing trillions of dollars. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, the top Republican in Congress, does not want to bring a large bill to the Senate floor before the election.
Congress has already appropriated $3 trillion in relief, including money for the unemployed and for small businesses. But no money has gone out the door since the spring, and members of both parties say more is needed now.
Pelosi has been under increasing pressure in recent weeks to compromise on a deal. Many members of her own party have been pushing her to do so.
Last week, the Speaker snapped at CNN's Wolf Blitzer during an appearance on 'The Situation Room', when he asked why she was not willing to concede on some of her demands.
She said that she could not accept the Republican deal as it is, because child tax credits and earned income credits were 'eliminated'.
'They minimize the need for childcare, which is the threshold with which people, mothers and fathers, can go to work if they have that,' she snapped.
'I want this very much now, because people need help now, but it's no use giving them a false thing just because the president wants to put a check with his name on it in the mail.
Pelosi's comments came after Democrat allies called on her for compromise