White House chief of staff Mark Meadows said Wednesday morning that his office has reached out to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to restart negotiations on the next round of federal stimulus legislation, but so far there isn’t any concrete indication from either side that talks will start up again in the near future.
KEY FACTS
“I actually had my staff reach out again yesterday to Speaker Pelosi's chief of staff,” Meadows said in an interview with Politico, adding that he hadn’t yet received any response and didn’t expect one.
A spokesman for Pelosi’s office told Politico that a staffer from Meadows’ office had texted the Speaker’s staff to confirm a phone number but did not mention resuming negotiations.
Meadows also noted that he believes a deal is still possible, and that President Trump also wants to reach an agreement.
Pelosi also alluded to the bitter battle over the next bill during a Tuesday interview with MSNBC, noting that the White House has continued to block new funding for nutrition programs and has tied a portion of school funding to physical reopenings in its proposals—a provision Democrats strongly oppose.
With each side insisting it wants a deal and casting the other as intransigent, there haven’t been any meaningful indications that the two sides are ready to return to the negotiating table.
Key background
The most fundamental disagreement between White House negotiators and top Democrats is over the price tag of the future bill. The White House, along with Senate Republicans, is adamant that the next round of relief be much narrower than the $2.2 trillion CARES Act passed in March. It started with a proposal worth about $1 trillion, and now the GOP is circulating a so-called “skinny” bill that’s worth half that sum. Democrats led by Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), on the other hand, are pushing a much more comprehensive package and in May, House Democrats passed the $3 trillion-plus HEROES bill. Democrats have indicated that they are willing to reduce their ask by $1 trillion, but only if Republicans meet them in the middle for a $2 trillion final bill. The White House has thus far rejected that offer.
This article originally appeared on Forbes.
