白宫发出信号，表示对下一轮与国会的谈判重新感兴趣冠状病毒众议院议长南希·佩洛西誓言在与共和党人和政府达成协议之前，众议院将继续开会。
特朗普总统周三敦促共和党人接受更大的冠状病毒刺激计划，似乎是在踩共和党人更保守的做法，因为主要政党继续努力打破第五项救助法案的僵局。
“民主党人‘无情无义’他们不想给那些急需资金的人发放刺激资金，而这场瘟疫来自中国也不是他们的错。共和党人，去争取更高的数字吧，无论如何，这一切都要回到美国(无论如何!)，”特朗普在推特上写道。
亚历克斯·王/盖蒂图像，文件
2020年8月28日，DC华盛顿，白宫办公厅主任马克·梅多斯在白宫西翼向媒体发表讲话。
白宫正在特别制定一项由众议院问题解决者核心小组提出的长期计划，该小组是一个由50名成员组成的两党小组。
参谋长马克·梅多斯(Mark Meadows)表示，特朗普对核心小组提出的1.5万亿美元刺激计划持开放态度，该计划是本周早些时候推出的，旨在打破长达数月的僵局。
“在过去的72小时里，我可能比过去的72天更乐观，”梅多斯周三在谈到目前的谈判时说。
他称两党核心小组提出的计划“非常深思熟虑”，并表示，如果佩洛西愿意继续留在会议上，直到达成协议，那就可以达成协议。
梅多斯说:“我认为最大的障碍可能仍然是州和地方援助的资金数额。
两党核心小组的提议在很大程度上是象征性的，一些成员私下承认它几乎没有通过的机会。几位民主党委员会主席断然拒绝了该提议，并表示该提议不符合需要。
该核心小组在一份新闻稿中表示:“由于四个月来在新的新冠肺炎救助计划上没有取得进展，并且认识到美国人日益增加的痛苦，问题解决者核心小组(PSC)已经制定了一个全面的两党框架，以满足美国未来6-12个月的需求，该框架可以通过国会两院，并由总统签署成为法律。”
核心小组的提议包括八周每周450美元的联邦失业福利，5000亿美元的州和地方救济，对美国工人的直接支付和额外的薪水保护计划基金。
亚历克斯·王/盖蒂图像，文件
众议院议长南希·佩洛西和参议院少数党领袖查克·舒默2020年8月7日在DC国会山的新闻发布会上发言。
佩洛西和参议院少数党领袖查克·舒默(Chuck Schumer)在一份声明中表示，他们对特朗普政府最近的提议感到鼓舞。
佩洛西和舒默在一份联合声明中说:“我们感到鼓舞的是，在参议院共和党人坚持缩短美国人民的巨大需求几个月后，特朗普总统现在呼吁共和党人在下一个冠状病毒救助计划中‘争取更多的人数’。”
“我们期待着听到总统的谈判代表说，他们最终会与我们达成一项法案，该法案相当于困扰我们国家的大规模健康和经济危机。到本周末，将有20万美国人死于冠状病毒。他们说:“美国人民的生活和生计取决于共和党人放弃他们的执念，在冠状病毒在我们国家肆虐的时候尽可能少地采取行动。”
但在特朗普发推特后不久，他的新闻秘书迅速介入，表示特朗普指的是参议院共和党人提出的一项“骨感”法案，该法案在上周晚些时候的投票中未能通过。
“总统所指的是参议院通过的5000亿美元法案，第四阶段计划……在参议院获得50票。这是一个5000亿美元的小提议，但不包括直接付款。所以他想要超过5000亿美元，他非常渴望看到这些直接的刺激支付，”白宫新闻秘书凯莉·麦克纳尼周三在新闻发布会上说。
共和党众议员、领导层成员利兹·切尼(Liz Cheney)也否决了总统提出的一项更大的法案，他告诉记者，“对于这么高的水平，我会犹豫是否做出承诺。”
“我真的很担心已经拨出还没花的资金。我认为解决这个问题的真正办法是我们必须让经济重新运转起来，”她补充道。
周二，佩洛西在私人电话中告诉民主党核心小组成员，根据电话中的消息来源，众议院将继续开会，直到国会通过另一项冠状病毒缓解法案。
亚历克斯·布兰登/美联社
2020年9月15日，美国总统唐纳德·特朗普(Donald Trump)在前往费城参加市政厅活动的途中，走向白宫南草坪的海军陆战队一号(Marine One)。
“我们承诺会留在这里，直到我们达成一项协议，一项满足美国人民需求的协议，”佩洛西周二在党团会议结束后不久接受CNBC采访时说。“我们乐观地认为，白宫至少会理解我们必须做一些事情。”
众议院多数党领袖斯蒂尼·霍耶(Steny Hoyer)后来向记者重申，众议院可能会在10月份进行24小时的罢免，以防达成协议，议员们将被召回进行投票。
就在选举前几周，国会通过了解决公共卫生危机的最后一项重大法案几个月后，一些温和的民主党人对他们境况不佳的社区缺乏冠状病毒缓解越来越焦虑和不安。
佩洛西和霍耶正面临一些温和的民主党人对他们处理冠状病毒缓解僵局的批评。
周二，在与佩洛西和霍耶的电话中，新民主党联盟(新民主党联盟)的一些成员对这种情况感到沮丧。新民主党联盟是一个由温和的众议院民主党人组成的大型核心小组，其中包括许多新生班级的成员。
据知情人士透露，纽约州众议员凯瑟琳·赖斯(Kathleen Rice)表示:“当我与选民交谈时，他们不会问我为什么米奇·麦康奈尔(Mitch McConnell)什么也没做。”"他们问我，我们的民主党多数派在他身边做了些什么。"
佩洛西在2018年与赖斯在议长职位上发生冲突，她鼓励她就是否希望留在镇上直到与白宫达成协议向她的同事进行民意调查。
弗吉尼亚州民主党众议员阿比盖尔·斯潘伯格(Abigail Spanberger)是弗吉尼亚州一个倾向共和党的地区的新生，他在电话中回应一位敦促民主党人坚持反对共和党人的同事时说:“我遵循我的信念，我的信念是切实做好我该死的工作，为美国人民想出一个解决方案。”
据知情民主党人透露，在讨论了在华盛顿而不是在家的问题后，佩洛西告诉成员们，不管众议院的日程安排如何，她都将在华盛顿，在众议院是否继续开会的问题上，她将听从霍耶的意见。
核心小组领导层正在对该小组的成员进行投票，以更好地了解他们是否会留在华盛顿，直到达成协议，或者返回自己的地区。
华盛顿特区众议员德里克·基尔默(Derek Kilmer)对美国广播公司新闻(ABC News)表示:“响亮而明确的是，人们一致希望看到国会采取行动帮助我们的选民。”他拒绝就谈话的细节置评。
明尼苏达州众议员迪恩·菲利普斯(Dean Phillips)表示:“时间紧迫，需求迫切，痛苦巨大，用零换取我们所渴望的东西不是一个合理的选择。”
“核心小组正在就如何继续进行进行公开和私下的激烈对话，最重要的是，我们必须继续进行，”他说。
众议院在5月份通过了一项3.4万亿美元的刺激措施，但共和党人拒绝了这项措施，因为它成本太高。参议院共和党人推动了他们所说的“瘦”法案，该法案将提供3500亿美元的新支出，但佩洛西坚持认为民主党人不会接受任何低于2.2万亿美元的支出。
周二早上，佩洛西私下告诉民主党人，“一个微不足道的交易不是一个交易”。“这是一项共和党法案。”
当被CNBC问及她是否愿意现在通过一项“无足轻重”的协议，并在晚些时候就悬而未决的问题与共和党人再次会面时，佩洛西说，“本届政府不会再有晚了。”
“这是机会。这是一项共和党的法案...这根本不是交易，”佩洛西说。“他们正在为一个巨大的问题提出一个空洞的建议——事实上，查克·舒默和我称之为空洞的建议。”
“我们可以在财政上花适当的钱来满足美国人民的需求，”她补充说。“对了，这是刺激。我们是一个消费经济，我们拥有的越多，无论是食品券还是失业保险...这是对经济的刺激。”
佛罗里达州的民主党众议员斯蒂芬妮·墨菲(Stephanie Murphy)被问及，她是否认为民主党领导人在谈判中拖拖拉拉，以在选举日之前不让特朗普获胜。
墨菲周三在国会山告诉记者:“我通常不会对人们的动机发表评论，因为谁知道我们之间发生了什么，你知道，在人们的脑海中。”“我所知道的是，我所在的社区向我表达的需求非常迫切，我所在的社区正在等待政府提供额外的资源，帮助他们度过这场流行病和经济危机。”
Trump urges Republicans to back bigger coronavirus bill
The White House is signaling a renewed interest in negotiations with Congress over the nextcoronavirusstimulus relief package after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi vowed to keep the House in session until a deal with Republicans and the administration is hammered out.
President Trump on Wednesday urged Republicans to embrace a larger coronavirus stimulus package seemingly stepping on the Republicans' more conservative approach, as the major parties continue to struggle to break a stalemate over a fifth relief bill.
"Democrats are 'heartless.' They don't want to give STIMULUS PAYMENTS to people who desperately need the money, and whose fault it was NOT that the plague came in from China. Go for the much higher numbers, Republicans, it all comes back to the USA anyway (one way or another!)," Trump tweeted.
The White House is specifically honing in on a long-shot plan put forth by the House Problem Solvers Caucus, a bipartisan group consisting of 50 members.
Chief of Staff Mark Meadows said Trump is open to the caucus' proposed $1.5 trillion stimulus package that was introduced earlier this week in an effort to break a months-long deadlock.
"I'm probably more optimistic in the last 72 hours than in the last 72 days," Meadows said Wednesday on current negotiations.
He called the bipartisan caucus' proposed plan "very thoughtful" and said that if Pelosi is willing to stay in session until a deal is reached, that one could be made.
"I think probably the biggest obstacle continues to be the amount of money that is outlined for state and local help," Meadows said.
The proposal from the bipartisan caucus is largely symbolic and some members have privately acknowledged it has little chance of passing. Several Democratic committee chairs rejected the proposal outright and said it falls short of what is needed.
"Having seen no progress on a new COVID-19 relief package in four months, and in recognition of Americans' increasing suffering, the Problem Solvers Caucus (PSC) has developed a comprehensive, bipartisan framework to meet the nation's needs for the next 6-12 months, that can pass both chambers of Congress and be signed into law by the President," the caucus said in a release.
The caucus's proposal includes $450 per week in federal unemployment benefits for eight weeks, $500 billion in state and local relief, direct payments to American workers and additional Paycheck Protection Program funds.
Speaker of the House Rep. Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer speak at a news conference Aug. 7, 2020, on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC.
Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement that they were encouraged by the Trump administration's recent overtures.
"We are encouraged that after months of the Senate Republicans insisting on shortchanging the massive needs of the American people, President Trump is now calling on Republicans to 'go for the much higher numbers' in the next coronavirus relief package," Pelosi and Schumer said in a joint statement.
"We look forward to hearing from the President's negotiators that they will finally meet us halfway with a bill that is equal to the massive health and economic crises gripping our nation. By the end of the week, 200,000 Americans will have died from the coronavirus. The lives and livelihoods of the American people depend on Republicans abandoning their obsession with doing as little as possible while the coronavirus rages through our nation," they said.
But a short a time after Trump tweeted, his press secretary quickly stepped in and said Trump was referring to a "skinny" bill proposed by Senate Republicans that failed to pass in a vote late last week.
"What the president was referring to was the $500 billion bill that passed the Senate, the Phase 4 plan that … got 50 votes in the Senate. It's that $500 billion skinny proposal but it didn't include direct payments. So he wants more than the $500 billion dollars and he is very keen to see these direct stimulus payments," White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said Wednesday during a press briefing.
GOP Rep. Liz Cheney, a member of leadership, also shot down the president's pitch for a larger bill, telling reporters, "I would be hesitant to make a commitment about a level that is that high."
"I'm really concerned about funds that have been appropriated and haven't been spent yet. I think the real solution to this is we've got to get the economy going again," she added.
On Tuesday, Pelosi told members of the Democratic caucus on a private phone call that the House will remain in session until Congress passes another coronavirus relief bill, per sources on the call.
President Donald Trump speaks with reporters as he walks to Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House, Sept. 15, 2020, en route to participate in a town hall event in Philadelphia.
"We are committed to staying here until we have an agreement, an agreement that meets the needs of the American people," Pelosi said during an interview with CNBC on Tuesday shortly after the caucus call. "We're optimistic that the White House at least will understand that we have to do some things."
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer later reiterated to reporters that the House will likely remain on a 24-hour recall throughout the month of October in case a deal is reached and members will be called back for a vote.
This comes as a number of moderate Democrats are growing anxious and jittery over the lack of coronavirus relief for their ailing communities just weeks ahead of the election and several months after Congress passed its last major bill to address the public health crisis.
Pelosi and Hoyer are facing criticism from some moderate Democrats about their handling of the impasse over coronavirus relief.
Some members of the New Democratic Coalition - a large caucus of moderate House Democrats that includes many members of the freshman class - grew frustrated with the situation on a call with Pelosi and Hoyer on Tuesday.
"When I speak to my constituents, they don't ask me why Mitch McConnell isn't doing anything," Rep. Kathleen Rice, D-NY, said, according to a source familiar with the call. "They ask me what our Democratic majority is doing to work around him."
Pelosi - who clashed with Rice over the speakership in 2018 - encouraged her to poll her colleagues on whether they wanted to stay in town until reaching a deal with the White House.
"I am following my convictions, and my conviction is to actually do my goddamn job and come up with a solution for the American people," Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-Virginia, a freshman from a Republican-leaning district in Virginia, said on the call, in response to a colleague who urged Democrats to hold out against Republicans.
After some discussion of being in Washington rather than at home, Pelosi told members she would be in Washington regardless of the House schedule, deferring to Hoyer on whether the House would stay in session, according to Democrats familiar with the call.
Caucus leadership is polling members of the group to get a better sense of whether they will remain in Washington until a deal is made, or return home to their districts instead.
"What came through loud and clear was a unanimous desire to see Congress take action to help our constituents," Rep. Derek Kilmer, D-Washington, the chair of the group, told ABC News, declining to comment on specifics of the conversation.
"Time is short, the needs are urgent, the suffering is immense, and trading zero for less than what we had aspired is not a reasonable alternative," Rep. Dean Phillips, D-Minnesota, said.
"The caucus is having a robust conversation publicly and privately about how to proceed, and most importantly, that we must proceed," he said.
The House passed a $3.4 trillion stimulus measure in May, but Republicans rejected it as being too costly. Senate Republicans pushed for what they call a "skinny" bill that would provide just $350 billion in new spending but Pelosi has insisted Democrats will not accept anything less than $2.2 trillion.
"A skinny deal is not a deal," Pelosi privately told Democrats Tuesday morning. "It is a Republican bill."
Asked by CNBC if she'd be willing to pass a "skinny" deal now and reconvene with Republicans on outstanding issues later, Pelosi said "there is no later with this administration."
"This is the opportunity. And the skinny deal is a Republican bill ... that's not a deal at all," Pelosi said. "They're making a skinny -- in fact, Chuck Schumer and I call it an emaciated -- proposal for a massive problem."
"We can fiscally spend the appropriate amount of money to meet the needs of the American people," she added. "And by the way, it's stimulus. We are a consumer economy and the more we have, whether it's food stamps or unemployment insurance ... that is stimulus to the economy."
Democratic Rep. Stephanie Murphy of Florida was asked if she thinks Democratic leaders are dragging their feet in negotiations to keep victory from Trump's hands ahead of Election Day.
"I don't usually comment on people's motivations because who knows what's going on between us, you know, in people's mind," Murphy told reporters on Capitol Hill Wednesday. "All I know is that the need that is expressed to me in my community is dire, and my community is waiting for the government to provide additional resources, as they try to get through this pandemic and economic crisis."
