A 'disappointing' meeting: No deal in COVID-19 talks
"It was a disappointing meeting," Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer told reporters. "We're asking them again to be fair, to meet us in the middle, not to have a 'my way or the highway attitude,' which they seem to have."
After nearly two weeks of talks that have failed to make substantial progress, the Republican president has threatened to pull his negotiators out and instead issue executive orders to address the human and economic toll of a crisis that has killed more than 160,000 Americans and thrown tens of millions of people out of work.
House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, said they offered to meet the Republicans halfway between Democrats' $3 trillion proposal and their $1 trillion proposal but the White House negotiators that include Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows rejected the pitch.
Pelosi said Democrats want the biggest possible number for reviving an expired federal payment to the unemployed that had been $600 a week. Renewing that benefit has been a leading Democratic demand.
The White House at one point suggested $400 a week in federal benefits for the unemployed, but Democrats rejected it and have refused to do a separate deal on that, saying they wanted a comprehensive package that also included money for state and local governments and other matters.
