Yesterday, the Washington Post reported that Pelosi anticipates striking a pandemic relief deal with Mnuchin, who the Republicans have tasked with keeping the package as small and mean as possible. Erica Werner and Jeff Stein asserted that Pelosi thinks that now that Trump is dying sick, it will be easier to get a bipartisan deal. The vote in the House on Thursday for the $2.2 trillion package was supposed to strengthen her hand in the negotiations. Instead, as we explained earlier a pack of mangy Blue Dogs and New Dems from the Republican wing of the Democratic Party, screwed it up by voting with the Republicans against the package, giving Mnuchin a bit of an edge in cutting down the amount of money that goes to state and local governments and to working families directly.
Democrats had sought a $2.2 trillion package, while the White House’s most recent offer was closer to $1.6 trillion. Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin spoke Friday afternoon for 65 minutes and plan to continue their discussions, according to Drew Hammill, a spokesman for the House speaker. The pace of talks-- and the possibility of a deal-- have picked up markedly in recent days. White House chief of staff Mark Meadows told reporters Friday that Trump had inquired about the status of negotiations Friday morning, shortly after the president announced his positive coronavirus test. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) sounded a positive note at a news conference in Kentucky.” I’m trying to figure out here whether I should predict another bill quickly or not, but the talks have speeded up in the last couple days,” said McConnell, who is not directly involved in the negotiations but is regularly briefed by Mnuchin. “I think we’re closer to getting an outcome.” With the talks picking up steam, Pelosi released a statement Friday calling on airlines to delay imminent furloughs of workers whose jobs are at risk after payroll support included in the Cares Act expired Wednesday. Pelosi said a six-month extension of the Payroll Support Program would be included in any deal or passed as a stand-alone bill. American Airlines and United Airlines this week announced they would be furloughing a combined 32,000 employees because federal aid expired and the travel industry remains battered by the coronavirus pandemic. Both airlines released statements pledging to reverse the furloughs if Congress acts, but urged lawmakers to move quickly. The U.S. economy plunged sharply into a recession earlier this year when the coronavirus pandemic led many companies and employers to lay off workers and temporarily close. The economy recovered a bit during the summer, but it has shown signs of lagging in recent weeks, particularly as several large companies have announced new plans for layoffs. That emerging head wind has helped revive talks between the White House and Democrats, but numerous significant issues remain unresolved. Pelosi outlined some of them in a letter Friday afternoon to House Democrats that pointed to unemployment insurance, money for cities and states, and tax credits for children and families as among the areas where she had yet to reach agreement with Mnuchin. “We are expecting a response from the White House on these areas and others with more detail,” Pelosi wrote. “In the meantime, we continue to work on the text to move quickly to facilitate an agreement.” In a sign that a deal could be emerging, Mnuchin told at least one Republican senator in a phone call on Thursday night that the agreement with Pelosi would include a substantial amount of money for state and local governments, a provision numerous conservative Republican senators have strongly resisted, according to one person who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share details of the private conversation. The call was interpreted as designed to prepare conservatives for the White House to give more on state and local aid than they had previously expected.
Although Pelosi was cross as the garbage Democraps, her own House Majority PAC and the DCCC have already started spending immense amounts of money to save their worthless hides. Neither the DCCC or Pelosi's PAC spends much on progressives, making sure to keep the number of progressives down to a bare minimum, but they spend millions and millions of dollars protecting weak Blue Dogs and New Dems who don't generate much enthusiasm from woke Democrats. Most of them will win in the November anti-Trump tsunami and will go on to be defeated in 2022 after two years of nothing consequential coming out of the Biden White House or the Schumer Senate. These garbagecrats all voted against the pandemic bailout package. The number next to their names is how much the DCCC and the House majority PAC have already spent independently on behalf of their campaigns-- and they're just getting started.
• Cindy Axne (New Dem-IA)- $1,159,950 • Anthony Brindisi (Blue Dog-NY)- $2,252,284 • Xochitl Torres Small (Blue Dog-NM)- $1,600,047 • Ben McAdams (Blue Dog-UT)- $1,601,567 • Joe Cunningham (Blue Dog-SC)- $1,171,949 • Kendra Horn (Blue Dog-OK)- $1,509,849 • Abigail Spanberger (Blue Dog-VA)- $1,154,442 • Max Rose (Blue Dog-NY)- $1,514,655 • Jared Golden (Blue Dog-ME)- $420,500 • Collin Peterson (Blue Dog-MN)- $1,656,318 • Elaine Luria (New Dem-VA)- $1,336,672