The change comes after President Donald Trump’s Republican Party and Democrats both rejected, for different reasons, a beefed-up US$1.8 trillion economic rescue plan proposed Friday. — Reuters pic
In a letter yesterday to Congress, White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin urged backing for a bill allowing some US$130 billion in unused funds from a previous support plan to be redirected. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who is negotiating with the administration, has already rejected any idea of targeted measures, saying she wants broad economic support that she believes will boost activity.
The White House on Friday beefed up its offer, proposing a US$1.8 trillion package as Trump himself said that he favoured an even larger package.Pelosi said the plan amounted to “one step forward, two steps back,” adding that the proposed sum was not enough. Asked if the proposed deal was dead, Larry Kudlow told CNN’s “State of the Union,” “No, I don’t think it’s dead at all.”