House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is not happy with President Donald Trump, calling his attitude “shameful” with regard to COVID-19 relief negotiations.
“A fly on the wall or wherever else it might land in the Oval Office tells me that the President only wants his name on a check to go out before Election Day and for the market to go up,” Pelosi wrote in a letter to her Democratic colleagues on Tuesday.
Noting Trump ended negotiations last week on a new coronavirus relief bill, Pelosi pointed out that “the stock market went down” and “so did he in the polls.” She then noted that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin came back to the negotiations but that the administration “issued a proposal that amounted to one step forward, two steps back” over the weekend.
The Trump administration has tossed out the idea of a $1.8 trillion coronavirus relief proposal — up from the previous $1.6 trillion proposed.
“The President’s attitude is shameful, when the need for immediate and meaningful action could not be more urgent,” Pelosi said.
She continued, “Over 215,000 Americans have died, nearly 7.8 million have been infected and millions more are still without jobs or income security and therefore struggling to make rent and put food on the table. Tragically, the Trump proposal falls significantly short of what this pandemic and deep recession demand.”
“Significant changes must be made to remedy the Trump proposal’s deficiencies. Updates will continue,” Pelosi continued. “I remain hopeful that the White House will finally join us to recognize the needs of the American people, and take action to address the health and economic crisis in their lives.”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) indicated on Friday that “we do need another rescue package,” but, “I think that’s unlikely in the next three weeks.”