Pessimism grows as coronavirus talks go down to the wire

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Pessimism grows as coronavirus talks go down to the wire
By Jordain Carney - 08/06/20 05:29 PM EDT

Lawmakers are increasingly pessimistic about the chances of a quick agreement as negotiations over a fifth coronavirus relief bill go down to the wire.

Congress and the White House are barreling toward an end-of-the-day Friday deadline set by the main negotiators: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.

But despite weeks of near-daily meetings, the four are struggling to overcome steep political headwinds and policy differences to reach an agreement and have little progress to show so far, raising the odds that they will blow past their self-imposed timeline.


“We might not get a deal,” said Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby (R-Ala.). “There's a lot of pessimism here. ... Are we too far apart?”

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) told reporters it “doesn’t look like” there will be a deal this week. And asked if he was optimistic there would be a deal, Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) responded “nope.”

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https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/510950-pessimism-grows-as-coronavirus-talks-go-down-to-the-wire