House Speaker Nancy Pelosi Urges Talks for $2.5 Trillion Coronavirus Relief Bill

On Sunday, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said that despite White House Speaker Nancy Pelosi stating she refuses to begin negotiations with Republicans on a coronavirus relief package unless they are willing to spend at least $2.5 trillion. However, she has agreed to avoid a potential government shutdown with a continuing resolution.

Continuous Resolution

During an interview, Secretary Mnuchin said that they would be making a Continuous Resolution (CR) and while he was not confident how long it would last, noted that it would most likely go through until early December.

According to Fox News, Mnuchin expressed his hopeful perspective that the progress of the CR will be made before the end of next week. He added that the CR is a separate matter from discussions of a new proposal similar to the CARES Act. Mnuchin said that while Pelosi wanted a much larger package, the situation has called for a narrower perspective.

The secretary noted that the house speaker has refused to continue discussions about a new coronavirus relief package unless they are willing to release funds around the $2.5 trillion range. He said that while the government released a $3 trillion bill previously, current events have seen the economy's revival, suggesting a targeted proposal would give the best results.

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However, Mnuchin noted that if they were to pass a smaller coronavirus relief package and find out in 30 days that it was insufficient, they would be willing to distribute more assistance.

On Tuesday, Pelosi spoke with Mnuchin but disagreed on a new proposal for the coronavirus pandemic. In a statement, the house speaker said the phone call made it clear the two sides of the government had critical differences in the challenges that working American families face amid the global health crisis, as reported by CNBC.

Differing perspectives

Pelosi noted that her talk with the secretary revealed massive differences between the two sides on how much money they are willing to put out for the American people. Democrats first proposed a bill that included $3 trillion but later said they are eager to agree on a $2.2 trillion package. On the other hand, Trump's administration said it would only agree on a maximum of $1.3 trillion.

The stalled talks risk the lives of sof Americans across the nation as people scavenge for what little they have left to pay for rent and purchase necessities amid continued lockdown protocols. The delayed passing of a bill also hampers the country's increased employment rate that has started to turn to a positive note in the last three months.

According to MassLive, Mnuchin said that Republicans are looking into a much narrower relief bill that would include around $500 billion. However, Democrats called Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's previous plan insufficient while Republicans said it was going overboard.

Mnuchin said that he and United States President Donald Trump want to give more stimulus to American citizens. The secretary revealed the administration is working on giving more than seven million people their jobs back amid the coronavirus pandemic's economic devastation.