“Clearly, the White House is in complete disarray”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued a statement reacting to a series of tweets from President Trump announcing he was pulling the plug on stimulus negotiations.
“Clearly, the White House is in complete disarray,” she said.
“Today, once again, President Trump showed his true colors: putting himself first at the expense of the country, with the full complicity of the GOP Members of Congress,” Pelosi said in the statement.
“Walking away from coronavirus talks demonstrates that President Trump is unwilling to crush the virus, as is required by the Heroes Act. He shows his contempt for science, his disdain for our heroes — in health care, first responders, sanitation, transportation, food workers, teachers, teachers, teachers and others — and he refuses to put money in workers’ pockets, unless his name is printed on the check,” she continued.
Some background: The decision to pull the plug on the talks is a major blow to Americans still struggling with the fallout from the once-in-a century pandemic and endangers an economic recovery that for months was driven by the initial $2.2 trillion stimulus passed by Congress in the spring.
With that money largely spent and gone, economists have warned more support is imperative in the months ahead.
While Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Pelosi were still far apart on a final agreement, according to multiple people involved, they were still very much in negotiations — with the two scheduled to talk by phone Tuesday afternoon and having continued to trade paper and legislative text over the last several days.
