Pelosi: Democrats Willing to Cut Relief Bill in ‘Half’ to Reach a Deal
By Jack Phillips
August 18, 2020 Updated: August 18, 2020
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Tuesday that congressional Democrats are now willing to cut their COVID-19 relief bill in half to come to an agreement with Republicans and the White House.
“We have to try to come to that agreement now,†Pelosi said in an interview with Politico. “We’re willing to cut our bill in half to meet the needs right now. We’ll take it up again in January. We’ll see them again in January. But for now, we can cut the bill in half.â€
Pelosi did not exactly elaborate on the figure, but she may have been referring to the House Democrat-passed HEROES Act in May, which is worth about $3.4 trillion. This month, Democrats offered to reduce the bill down by $1 trillion, which was rejected by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and other Republicans.
Republicans in late July offered a $1 trillion bill known as the HEALS Act. Notably, the measure would omit funding for state and local jurisdictions, while Democrats’ HEROES Act included nearly $1 trillion in funding for those municipalities.
Earlier in August, talks between Mnuchin, Pelosi, and other officials stalled over the wide gap in funding. President Donald Trump then took executive action, providing $300 federal unemployment payments, a student loan deferral, a suspension of payroll taxes, and authorizing a moratorium on evictions.
And last week, Trump wrote on Twitter that he directed Mnuchin to ready $1,200 stimulus payments for individuals, and $3,400 for a family of four. In the same breath, he said that Democratic leaders are the ones holding up a deal being made.
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https://www.theepochtimes.com/pelosi-democrats-willing-to-cut-relief-bill-in-half-to-reach-a-deal_3466459.htmlSorry you have to register to read there but I posted the highlights of the article
