The chances of Congress passing a pre-election stimulus are all but gone, as Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Wednesday blamed politics for undermining the months-long negotiations. “At this point getting something done before the election and executing on that would be difficult, just given where we are in the level of details,” Mnuchin said at the Milken Institute Global Conference. With a deal out of reach, the two sides in the talks faulted each other for the breakdown.
Mnuchin agreed in response to a question that “part of the reality” is Democrats are holding back out of optimism they’ll win a Senate majority on Nov. 3 and don’t want to give President Donald Trump something to tout now in his campaign. White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said in an interview on CNBC that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi “keeps stringing us along” in negotiations. He described Mnuchin as “frustrated.”
But Democrats countered that the White House never took either the coronavirus pandemic or the need for another stimulus seriously enough to push for a compromise and have been inconsistent and unpredictable negotiating partners.
Pelosi told MSNBC on Wednesday night that while an agreement was still possible, the two sides remained far apart on worker safety, school funding, and a strategic testing plan, among other issues.
She added that negotiations were continuing on a testing plan. “Tomorrow, we’re hoping to get better language back on how we crush the virus,” she said.
The inability to bring months of negotiations to conclusion has sparked increasing tensions, with each camp seeing internal strains rise as it becomes clear there won’t be a spending bill to take to the public. Investors are increasingly taking note; the S&P 500 Index headed for a second day of declines on Wednesday, down 0.7% as of 4 p.m New York time.
After McConnell publicized his plan Tuesday, Trump tweeted that Congress should “go big or go home.”
Democrats are seeing their own strains. Pelosi became riled during a CNN interview Tuesday afternoon when asked about a handful of Democrats who are urging her to look again at the Trump administration’s $1.8 trillion stimulus offer.
“They have no idea of the particulars. They have no idea of what the language is here,” Pelosi said of Democrats calling for a deal now. “They’re not negotiating this situation.”