House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said Sunday that an economic stimulus deal must be struck within 48 hours in order for Congress to pass legislation before Election Day, but she noted that significant differences still divide her and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.
Stars and Stripes is making stories on the coronavirus pandemic available free of charge. See other free reports here. Sign up for our daily coronavirus newsletter here. Please support our journalism with a subscription. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said Sunday that an economic stimulus deal must be struck within 48 hours in order for Congress to pass legislation before Election Day, but she noted that significant differences still divide her and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. “Well, that depends on the (Trump) administration,” Pelosi said on ABC’s “This Week” when asked whether it was still possible to get relief to Americans ahead of the election barely two weeks from now. Pelosi’s on-again, off-again talks with Mnuchin over a deal costing between $1.8 trillion and $2.2 trillion have been dragging on for months without producing results. The window for action is narrowing quickly. For the first time, Pelosi put a deadline on them, indicating that if no agreement can be struck by Tuesday, it will not be possible to produce a new relief deal by the election. Pelosi and Mnuchin spoke for 75 minutes on Saturday and agreed to speak again Monday. “The 48 (hours) only relates to if we want to get it done before the election — which we do,” Pelosi said. “But we’re saying to them we have to freeze the design on some of these things — are we going with it or not, and what is the language.” Tuesday’s deadline is exactly two weeks before the Nov.
