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Democrats hold firm in demands for coronavirus relief bill as impasse continues

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Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said « we will keep working » with White House officials until a deal is reached.
Democratic congressional leaders are holding firm on their priorities in negotiations with White House officials and Senate Republicans over the next coronavirus relief bill, continuing to insist a long-term extension of enhanced unemployment benefits of $600 per week to unemployed Americans that expired at the end of July. However, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Chief of Staff Mark Meadows said Thursday evening that President Trump is willing to take executive action to address the crisis if a deal is not reached with Democrats by Friday. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer met with Mnuchin and Meadows for over three hours on Thursday without coming to an agreement. Meadows told reporters that they would brief the president and decide whether to continue talks with Democrats to try to reach a deal. « If that doesn’t work, the president has instructed Secretary Mnuchin and myself to be willing to enter into a narrower deal that addresses some of the most pressing needs that are before us as a nation. And if those two things do not work than he’s prepared to take executive action on his own, » Meadows said. Pelosi and Schumer contended after their meeting that Republicans do not understand the scope of the problem. « We had what I would call a consequential meeting. It was one where we could see the difference in values that we bring to the table.

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