Mnuchin, Pelosi Agree to Revive 'CARES Act' Talks
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said he has spoken with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for more than 15 times to revive talks on the "CARES Act" or a new stimulus package that has been in a stalemate for nearly two months.
Mnuchin confirmed Thursday that he has spoken to Pelosi, and they both agreed to revive negotiations over the CARES Act or another coronavirus stimulus package. That means another round of stimulus checks could be coming soon.
"I've probably spoken to Speaker Pelosi 15 or 20 times in the last few days on the CR, and we've agreed to continue to have discussions about the CARES Act," Mnuchin told the Senate Banking Committee during a hearing with Federal Reserve Board Chair Jerome Powell.
Pelosi, on the other hand, said she expects a discussion with President Donald Trump's top negotiators in the days to come, as per The Hill report.
"We'll be hopefully soon to the table with them," Pelosi told reporters at the Capitol.
The comments of Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the top negotiators of both parties for the second round of stimulus payments, came amid months of partisan stalemate over another CARES Act.
It's a good thing that after months of disagreements and Pelosi's rejections on the Trump's administration proposal for a new stimulus package, they now finally arrived to have strong bipartisan support on certain components. That could mean that Republicans and Democrats are about to strike a deal any time soon as both parties try to fix some of their concerns.
The Democrats want the federal government to approve trillions of dollars, while the Republicans are quite worried about the amount. But President Donald Trump has already signaled that he is open to approving a larger amount.
Trump even appreciated the effort of a bipartisan group in the Congress who offered roughly $1.5 trillion. He encouraged the Republicans to embrace the proposal with a bigger price tag. Trump wanted to make sure that millions of Americans will receive the financial aid they need amid the pandemic.
Meanwhile, Mnuchin urged the Democrats to come back to the table for a bill built around areas of wide bipartisan agreement such as revamping the Paycheck Protection Program to aid small businesses and relief payments.
"Let's pass things that we agree on quickly, and we can always come back and do more. It's less of the issue of what the absolute number is," Mnuchin said.
Senate Democrats had critized the Republican offerings for allegedly failing to meet the minimum necessary to bolster a fragile economy. But Trump is fixing it by issuing orders to release billions of funds in varoius sectors such as agriculture and education.
Both the Republicans and Democrats are expected to come up and agree with more than roughly $1 trillion stimulus package that will include PPP loans, direct stimulus checks, and more. Millions of eligible Americans will likely receive it before the election.
Powell and several well-known economists also asked for a second round of stimulus payments. They firmly believed it is one way of getting the country's economy moving again.