Millions will lose $600-a-week unemployment boost within hours as coronavirus relief ends at midnight after White House and Democrats fail to find a deal to keep it alive
Millions of Americans will lose their $600-a-week enhanced unemployment unemployment at midnight on Friday as the White House and Democrats struggle to come up with a deal that would extend the benefits.
A two-hour late night meeting on Capitol Hill Thursday resulted in no deal between White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin - negotiating for President Donald Trump - and Democratic leaders Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.
Talks will continue through the weekend but a deal seems far off.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin (left) and White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows (right) speak to reporters in the Capitol Thursday night after failing to come to a deal with Democrats on a coronavirus relief package that would extend unemployment benefits
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer are pushing for more than the $1 trillion Republicans offered, arguing Americans need help
Meadows, after leaving Pelosi's office Thursday night, said their proposals 'were not received warmly' and discussions would pick back up on Friday.
Pelosi charged Republicans with offering a 'piecemeal' solution.
'I think they understand that we have to have a bill, but they just don't realize how big it has to be,' she said.
'They never have understood the gravity of it,' she noted.
Meadows offered to extend enhanced unemployment at $600 per week for four months as a stand-alone bill, Politico reported, but Democrats want it extended through the first quarter of 2021 - a nine month extension.
Meadows and Mnuchin rejected that but the treasury secretary voiced optimism about negotiations as he left the Capitol building.
'I would say on certain issues we made progress. On certain issues we're still very far apart. We're going to either speak tomorrow or meet again tomorrow and meet on Saturday,' he said Thursday night.
Schumer said both sides wanted to come to a deal.
'Did we have a good discussion? Yes. Will we continue to discuss? Yes. Do we want to continue to come to an agreement? Absolutely. But it's got to meet the gravity of the problem,' he said.
The group of four have met for four days in a row but have failed to make a deal.
All the players say they want an agreement but none have - yet - been willing to compromise on key points, such as the amount to extend the unemployment benefits, for how long, and additional funding for cities and states whose budgets took a hit during the pandemic.
Congress and White House officials have spent the week in negotiations after Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell presented a proposal on Monday.
His plan quickly stalled after conservative Republican senators complained about its $1 trillion price tag and Democrats - plus some Republicans - criticized the package for containing non-COVID matters, such as funding for a new FBI headquarters.
Democrats have taken advantage of the in-fighting among Republicans to push for expanded relief options, such as food assistance programs.
Meanwhile, the loss of the unemployment benefits will strike a financial blow to the tens of millions of Americans who lost their jobs due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The talks stalled amid news the U.S. economy suffered its worst drop in history in the second quarter of 2020 - shrinking by 33 per cent in the April-June quarter. Unemployment sits at 14.7 per cent.
President Trump, who is banking his re-election hopes on a strong U.S. economy, appears eager for a deal.
He urged Democrats to come to the table after Senate Republicans failed to come together on consensus.
'We want a temporary extension of expanded unemployment benefits,' he said during a Thursday briefing at the White House.
He also said he'd push for the package to include another round of checks for Americans – similar to the $1,200 checks that were circulated, and signed by the president, earlier this year.
'We need Democrats to join us to pass additional economic relief payments for American citizens,' Trump said, putting the pressure on the opposition. 'Like the payments sent directly to 160 million Americans earlier this year, which was a tremendously successful program.'
He added: 'This money will help millions of hardworking families get by.'
President Donald Trump appears eager for a deal on the coronavirus legislation and is pushing Democrats to come to the table
Senate Republicans on Thursday tried to force through a standalone measure that would renew federal unemployment payments at 66 percent of lost wages, or $200 per week.
But Democrats blocked the legislation, saying it was not enough.
The Senate adjourned and left town for the weekend but McConnell put a legislative procedure in place that would allow a vote on a compromise package next week.
Democrats are playing hardball, demanding much more than the $1 trillion that McConnell originally offered, arguing Americans need additional assistance. House Democrats passed a $3 trillion plan in May that the Senate rejected.
McConnell has tried to push the blame to the opposition.
'They won't engage. Period,' McConnell said Thursday as he opened the Senate. 'The Democrats are saying, my way or the highway.'
Now we will see how much pain Democrats are willing to put the unemployed through to make the situation as bad as possible in hopes it will somehow make Trump look bad. This will backfire worse than their waste of time impeachment.
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