This archive report was first published on 4 August 2020.
With Jobless Aid Expired, Trump Sidelines Himself in Stimulus Talks ¶
August 4, 2020
President Trump's absence from stimulus talks has hindered efforts to reach a deal, with the expiration of jobless aid exacerbating the economic crisis.
On Monday, Trump was not cajoling undecided lawmakers to embrace a critical stimulus bill to stabilize the foundering economy. Instead, he was at the White House, hurling insults at the Democratic leaders whose support he needs to strike a deal.
Trump called Speaker Nancy Pelosi 'Crazy Nancy,' charging that she had no interest in helping the unemployed. He said Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader, only wanted to help 'radical left' governors in states run by Democrats. And he threatened to short-circuit a delicate series of negotiations to produce a compromise and instead unilaterally impose a federal moratorium on tenant evictions.
White House officials say that Trump is interested in the talks and is closely monitoring them, but he has not sought to use the full powers of his office to prod a deal, and more often he has complicated the already sensitive negotiations.
The situation reflects the dysfunctional dynamic that Trump has developed with leaders of both parties in Congress. He has a toxic relationship with Pelosi, with whom he has not met face-to-face since last year. And Republicans have learned to eye their own president warily in delicate negotiations, knowing that he is prone to changing his position, bucking party principles and leaving them to suffer the political consequences of high-profile collapses.
On Monday, Pelosi floated a possible compromise to extend the benefits, saying that Democrats might be open to tying the weekly payments, which Republicans are pressing to cut substantially, to the unemployment rate, allowing the amount to fall in tandem with the jobless rate.
Privately, she warned House Democrats during an afternoon conference call that while she had hoped to reach a deal with the White House this week, she was no longer sure that was possible.
Some lawmakers saw the glimmers of a possible bargain, although they warned the process of striking it would not be pretty.
At the same moment that Trump was blasting her, Pelosi met on Capitol Hill with Schumer; Mark Meadows, the White House chief of staff; and Steven Mnuchin, the Treasury secretary, in search of a compromise.
Mr. Schumer said that Republicans were 'sticking to their position' on maintaining the $600 weekly federal unemployment benefits, and Pelosi added, 'We're sticking to ours.'
