A guy walks past the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, June 25, 2020.Al Drago | ReutersRepublicans and Democrats looked far from striking that a coronavirus relief bargain Wednesday as countless Americans wait to find out if Congress will reestablish financial lifelines during a continuing economic and wellness crisis.As negotiators cite small progress in discussions and congressional leaders snipe at one another on Capitol Hill, the Trump government again raised the possibility of a short-term strategy to deal with just increased unemployment insurance along with a national eviction moratorium whereas the sides hash a wider bill. Democrats have rejected a temporary repair. “We are nowhere near a deal,” White House chief of staff Mark Meadows said Wednesday following a meeting with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., along with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., according to colleagues in the Capitol.Earlier, Mnuchin stated President Donald Trump would encourage devoting short-term laws to permit more time for discussions in case the parties don’t strike an arrangement before Friday. The improved $600 a week national unemployment advantage technically expires daily.”We are not accepting this,” Pelosi told reporters following the meeting, saying she needs a “comprehensive” bill.Comments from congressional leaders and White House officials depicted a cluttered, politically charged process that seems unlikely to result in some quick breakthrough to fight an economical and health-care calamity. As approximately 30 million individuals still obtain some kind of unemployment insurance, says have stopped paying the additional jobless advantage. A national eviction moratorium also died last week. Since Covid-19 spreads across the nation, the U.S. has reported over 4.3 million cases and much more than 150,000 deaths linked to the disease, based on information gathered by Johns Hopkins University.Senate Republicans published a roughly $1 trillion pandemic help bill nowadays, a counter into the $3 trillion bundle House Democrats passed in May. But the proposal has not earned the support of many GOP lawmakers, let alone Democrats. As his administration works with Pelosi and Schumer to craft a plan that could pass both the GOP-controlled Senate and Democratic-held House, Trump downplayed the importance of resolving issues other than the jobless benefit and eviction moratorium. “We’re going to work on the evictions, so that people don’t get evicted. We’ll work on the payments for the people. And the rest of it, we’re so far apart, we don’t care. We really don’t care,” the president told reporters before he left for Texas on Wednesday. He claimed that “the Democrats aren’t taking care of the people. The payments aren’t enough.” Democrats have pushed to send significantly more money to Americans than Republicans have. They want to continue the $600 per week federal unemployment insurance boost into next year. The GOP has proposed to cut the benefit to $200 per week through September, then change it to 70% wage replacement. Democrats’ plan for another round of direct payments to Americans also differs from the Republican bill. It would send another check of up to $1,200 to most individuals, and $2,400 to couples. The plan would add another $1,200 per dependent for up to three children, a maximum of $6,000 per household. The Republican legislation would send checks of up to $1,200 to individuals and $2,400 to couples, with $500 per dependent of any age. The GOP and Democrats are trying to resolve several other thorny issues the legislation. Republicans did not put any new direct relief for state and local governments in their bill, while Democrats want nearly $1 trillion in aid. Republicans have also pushed for broad liability protections for companies, doctors and schools during the pandemic, a provision Democrats oppose. On Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., told CNBC that “no bill will pass the Senate that doesn’t have the liability protection in it.”After a meeting with Mnuchin and Meadows on Tuesday, Pelosi said the comments about legal immunity made McConnell sound “like a person who had no interest in having an agreement.” The shots continued Wednesday. Speaking on the Senate floor, McConnell accused Democrats of posturing and threatening the extension of key aid measures. “Democrats would rather keep political issues alive than find bipartisan ways to resolve them,” he said. Schumer then criticized Republicans for putting together a plan that several members of the GOP do not support. He said this was “littered with corporate giveaways” and “presidential pet projects,” but did not include key aid such as rental, mortgage and food assistance. He also accused McConnell of operating in bad faith. “Time is short,” Schumer said. “Speaker Pelosi and I will be back at the negotiating table with the White House later today. It’s time our Republican colleagues to roll up their sleeves and get serious as well.”Correction: The U.S. has now reported more than 4.3 million cases and roughly 150,000 deaths related to Covid-19, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. An earlier version misstated these figuresSubscribe for CNBC on YouTube.
