President Donald Trump is moving forward with executive orders aimed at providing relief to millions of Americans struggling financially due to the coronavirus outbreak after weeks of negotiations on Capitol Hill stalled.
But Congressional Democrats have balked at his order and argued that they would not provide meaningful aide to Americans.
On Sunday, Fox News’ Chris Wallace pressed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Congressional Democrats’ unwillingness to compromise.
He said that Pelosi is known as a “master negotiator.” Still, he noted that after talks stalled, the president moved forward with executive orders that left out money for schools, hospitals, and state and local governments. He asked, “Didn’t you mess this one up?”
“You knew that the president was threatening to take this executive action. I understand that you weren’t going to get everything that you wanted — and didn’t get everything you wanted. But should you have cut a deal?” he asked.
“Well, clearly, you don’t have an understanding of what is happening here,” Pelosi responded. “What we have said, we’re going to honor our heroes — state and local, healthcare workers, etc., first responders, teachers and the rest — and that’s part of our argument is how much are they willing to do.”
Watch the exchange below:
Pelosi also argued that Congress needs to pass legislation so that the economy can reopen in a way that is “scientifically based,” and so that Americans can receive funds to help them financially.
“What the president did, doesn’t even accomplish what he sets out to do,” she added. She also noted that the administration rejected a $2 trillion package — which was lower than the cost of Democrats’ initial bill.
However, Wallace noted that one area of disagreement was the amount of money Congress was going to provide to state and local governments. Republicans wanted to spend $150 billion, and Democrats wanted to spend $900 and asked if Democrats could have compromised so that local governments could get at least some aide instead of nothing.
“The result of no deal is that the states and cities — which we all agree do need some money — are going to get nothing. I guess the question is, and I’m not saying it’s all your fault any more than it’s all the Republicans’ fault, but the failure to make a deal is going to result in a lot of people and a lot of entities that were in need ending up with nothing.”
When asked if Democrats would be more flexible in future negotiations, Pelosi said they could examine the time frame of some of their provisions to lower the price tag of a future bill.
She clarified, “It doesn’t mean that we have things that we would cut out. It means that we could talk about how long our provisions would be in effect.”