WASHINGTON The top Democrats in Congress are “not close yet” on reaching a deal with the White House to pump more money into the U.S. economy to ease the coronavirus’ heavy toll, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer told reporters on Saturday, after an essential lifeline for millions of unemployed Americans expired.
“This was the longest meeting we had and it was more productive than the other meetings,” Schumer said. “There are many issues that are still very much outstanding.”
Schumer made the remarks after he and U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi concluded a three-hour meeting with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows at the Capitol on Saturday.
Congress for the past several months has been unable to reach an accord for a next round of economic relief from a pandemic that has killed more than 150,000 Americans and triggered the sharpest economic collapse since the Great Depression.
In a meeting on Thursday night between top White House officials and congressional Democratic leaders, negotiations focused on an extension of the $600 per week in federal unemployment benefits, which Americans who lost jobs because of the health crisis have been receiving in addition to state jobless payments.
The House in May passed a $3 trillion deal that addressed a wide range of coronavirus responses, including more money for testing, for elections and support to financially strapped state and local governments.
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