WASHINGTON (US) – US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi rejected President Donald Trump’s latest offer on COVID-19 stimulus on Tuesday.
In a letter to colleagues, Pelosi said, “Tragically, the Trump proposal falls significantly short of what this pandemic and deep recession demand,” Pelosi said. She also described the offer made last week by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin as “one step forward, two steps back.”
But Pelosi said she was optimistic about a deal and said, “Significant changes must be made to remedy the Trump proposal’s deficiencies. Updates will continue.”
The letter made it clear that Democrats view the White House offer as falling short on state and local government aid, COVID-19 testing and tracing, rental assistance, worker safety, child care, relief for small employers and other areas.
The top Democrat in Congress wrote, “The president only wants his name on a check to go out before Election Day and for the market to go up. The president’s attitude is shameful, when the need for immediate and meaningful action could not be more urgent.”