Trump: No virus stimulus bill before election

WASHINGTON—House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin negotiated for months on more aid for Americans affected by the coronavirus lockdowns. President Donald Trump on Tuesday told Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., to shift his attention to confirming Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court and to postpone talks on a stimulus package until after the Nov. 3 election. He said the Democrats’ proposals included too much spending that had nothing to do with COVID-19 relief. “We made a very generous offer of $1.6 trillion and, as usual, [Pelosi] is not negotiating in good faith,” Trump tweeted. Hours later, he called on Congress to pass piecemeal relief bills to send out $1,200 stimulus checks, $25 billion for airline companies, and $135 billion for small businesses.

How did others in Washington respond? Pelosi, whose latest stimulus proposals have topped $2 trillion, blasted Trump for the move. “Walking away from coronavirus talks demonstrates that President Trump is unwilling to crush the virus,” she said. Even without a new spending bill, the federal debt is projected to reach 98 percent of the country’s gross domestic product this year.

Dig deeper: Read Harvest Prude’s report in The Stew about the unintended consequences of eviction moratoriums during the early months of the pandemic.

Editor’s note: WORLD has updated this report since its initial posting.