Trump economic adviser: Senate Republicans will ‘go along with’ White House stimulus proposal despite their pushback

President Trump’s economic adviser Larry Kudlow said Sunday that Senate Republicans will “go along with” the $1.8 trillion White House stimulus proposal despite their vocal pushback.

Kudlow told CNN’s “State of the Union” that the White House expects support from Republicans in the upper chamber. A source told The Hill on Saturday that several senators expressed “significant concerns” about the proposal’s cost in a call with administration officials. 

The White House economic adviser said on Sunday he does not think the coronavirus stimulus bill is “dead.”

{mosads}“Republicans in the Senate put up their own bill a few weeks ago and got 53 votes, I think it was, so they united,” he said. “I think if an agreement can be reached, they will go along with it.” 

Kudlow also criticized Democrats, including Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), for their “intransigence” over funding unemployment assistance, small-business loans and stimulus checks in individual bills or an overall bill. 

“Well, I’m not talking about your Democratic friends,” CNN host Jake Tapper pushed back. “I’m talking about 20 Senate Republicans who were mad at [Treasury] Secretary [Steven] Mnuchin and saying that the proposal of $1.8 trillion was way too much.”

The White House economic adviser noted the president would “go beyond” the cost of the current proposal to fund assistance for unemployed people, small-business loans and stimulus checks. 

“President Trump actually has always said — I mean, I have heard him say it in the Oval — as far as the key elements are concerned, the checks, the unemployment assistance, the small business assistance — we have got to help airlines out — he would go further,” Kudlow said.

“I think if we could get this thing settled on the Democrat side, we will get it settled on the Republican side,” he said. “There will still be further efforts of negotiation perhaps today but certainly this coming week.”

“The D’s are holding this thing up,” he added.

White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow says he doesn’t think the stimulus deal is dead, despite President Trump’s $1.8 trillion proposal facing opposition from Senate GOP. “I think if an agreement can be reached, they will go along with it” https://t.co/Viunv4eaxp #CNNSOTU pic.twitter.com/RNV1O8GzSr

— State of the Union (@CNNSotu) October 11, 2020

Kudlow also told CNN that he doesn’t think the economic “recovery” in the U.S. “is dependent on” a stimulus bill. 

When Tapper said the Federal Reserve chairman disagreed, Kudlow said he’s “essentially saying the same thing — targeted assistance would be a good idea.”

Kudlow’s remarks come after the White House proposed a $1.8 trillion coronavirus relief package, a higher amount than the $1.6 trillion offered last week and rejected by Pelosi and Democrats. 

Several Senate Republicans blasted the proposal in a call with White House officials, with Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) labeling it a “death knell” for the GOP ahead of the elections.

–Updated at 11:56 a.m.