President Trump is accusing Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and congressional Democrats of derailing a third coronavirus stimulus bill with immigration and environmental provisions.
“Republicans had a deal until Nancy Pelosi rode into town from her extended vacation,” Trump tweeted late Monday.
“The Democrats want the Virus to win? They are asking for things that have nothing to do with our great workers or companies,” Trump added. “They want Open Borders & Green New Deal. Republicans shouldn’t agree!”
Pelosi on Monday offered a preview of House Democrats’ sweeping economic proposal. The package includes a host of provisions that have little chance of making it into the final package, including tax credits to promote green energy and mandatory emissions reductions for the airlines set to receive federal help.
“This is not about the ridiculous Green New Deal. It is about putting our great workers and companies BACK TO WORK!” Trump added in a follow-up tweet.
Pelosi said she intends to have the House return to Washington to vote on the package but suggested that step might not be necessary if Senate negotiators can seal a deal that wins the support of her caucus.
Senate Republicans sent their $1 trillion bill to Democrats late last Thursday. Despite lengthy negotiations Friday and Saturday, the two sides were unable to come to a consensus, with Democrats saying that the initial bill was skewed in favor of large corporations and industries instead of individual American workers.
The Senate since then has failed to advance the stimulus package twice.
But early Tuesday morning, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin signaled as he left Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer’s (D-N.Y.) office that a deal would be coming later in the day
Schumer concurred, saying that he told Trump that they were “very, very close to an agreement.”
The pair said that the revised package would be in the ballpark of $2 trillion and would provide direct tax rebates to some Americans and hundreds of billions of dollars for both small businesses and industries that have been rocked by the virus, such as airlines.
“We expect to have an agreement tomorrow morning. There’s still a few little differences. Neither of us think they’re in any way going to get in the way of the final agreement,” Schumer added.
Updated at 8:32 a.m.