Trump now touting progress in stalled stimulus talks
The change in stance comes days after he spiked negotiations, leading stocks to tank
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US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer speaking to reporters in August. President Donald Trump has accused Mrs Pelosi of inflating the pandemic relief package to "bail out poorly run, high crime, Democrat States".
PHOTO: REUTERS
WASHINGTON • President Donald Trump said talks on providing additional fiscal stimulus are now "starting to work out", after he pulled his side out of negotiations earlier this week.
"I think we have a really good chance of doing something," Mr Trump said yesterday morning in a live interview on Fox Business. There are now "very productive talks" on coronavirus relief, he said.
Months of hard-fought negotiations on a stimulus package to shore up a slowing economic recovery came to an abrupt end on Tuesday, when Mr Trump pulled his team out of the talks.
He then called on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to send him standalone assistance Bills, including for airlines and individual stimulus cheques.
Mrs Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin held phone calls on Wednesday on potential aid for the airline industry, but the Speaker's receptiveness did not appear to extend to other elements of what was to have been a comprehensive relief package.
Mrs Pelosi on Wednesday rejected pressure from Mr Trump to green-light a Bill authorising US$1,200 (S$1,630) individual stimulus cheques, saying that was insufficient to address the Covid-19 challenge.
Mr Trump claimed yesterday morning that those cheques and other measures are on the table, however. "We started talking again. And we're talking about airlines and we're talking about a bigger deal than airlines," he said. "We're talking about a deal with US$1,200 per person, we're talking about other things."
Mrs Pelosi's spokesman Drew Hammill tweeted on Wednesday that the Speaker and Mr Mnuchin agreed to talk again yesterday.
Continuing hopes for a stimulus deal have contributed to gains in stocks since they tanked in the wake of Mr Trump's announcement on Tuesday about pulling out of the negotiations.
Mr Mnuchin's calls on Wednesday underscored the Trump administration's concern about the state of the airline industry, which has been walloped by the Covid-19 crisis and seen tens of thousands of job cuts.
Carriers have furloughed about 38,000 people since Oct 1, including major layoffs at American Airlines Group and United Airlines. An airline Bill could be approved as soon as this week, but it would take unanimous consent in both the House and Senate to do so.
A government report yesterday showcased the continuing impact of the coronavirus crisis on the job market, with 840,000 initial claims for unemployment insurance in the most recent week in regular state programmes. That is more than quadruple the level before the pandemic hit, and higher than the peak of the 2007-09 recession.
Federal Reserve officials led by chairman Jerome Powell this week stepped up their calls for a broad relief package to help the unemployed and endangered businesses, highlighting concern about undermining the economic recovery.
During an appearance on Wednesday on ABC, Mrs Pelosi did not explicitly shut the door on continuing negotiations with Mr Trump and the administration.
However, she did disparage the idea of just sending stimulus cheques without the other relief Democrats have been seeking.
BLOOMBERG, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE