White House chief economic adviser Larry Kudlow said Friday that President Trump has signed off on a new proposal for House Democrats on a coronavirus relief deal.
“The developments are very positive. They are very constructive. This is breakthrough stuff,” Mr. Kudlow said.
He didn’t give too many details on when the deal will be announced, but he expected it to include funds for small business Paycheck Protection Program loans, direct payments, enhanced unemployment benefits and airline relief.
The proposal is expected to be around $1.8 trillion dollars, according to multiple reports.
Mr. Trump sent out an enthusiastic message about how negotiations were going.
“Covid Relief Negotiations are moving along. Go Big!” he tweeted.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said earlier she and Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin are set to continue talks later Friday afternoon.
“The devil and the angels are in the details. So part of it is about money and part of it is about policy. So we’ll continue our conversation today,” she said on MSNBC.
It’s been a tumultuous week for stimulus talks, with Mr. Trump calling off a comprehensive deal on Tuesday, before scaling back and pushing for a skinny fix for airline relief, small business loans and $1,200 direct payments.
Mrs. Pelosi said that there would be no stand-alone relief bill without a larger deal, and now negotiations have shifted back in that direction.
However, while the speaker and the White House are putting out optimistic signals for a deal, there is still the Senate to contend with.
Back in July, Senate Republicans didn’t entirely rally around the $1 trillion GOP proposal endorsed by the White House, and any deal reached with House Democrats will be well above that line.
In Kentucky, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he saw the situation as “kind of murky” given how close lawmakers are to Election Day.
“I’d like to see us rise above that like we did back in March and April, but I think that’s unlikely in the next three weeks,” he said.
