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Trump told his daily White House briefing on the crisis that
Republicans were "close" to an agreement with Democrats, and
suggested there could be a resolution on Monday.
"A lot of good work has been going on. We could have an answer
tomorrow," the Republican president said.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer had said he hoped a deal
could be reached on Sunday evening, although he cautioned that
many issues remained.
Members of the two parties have been taking shots at one another
over the delay in further small-business aid, against a backdrop
of protests by Trump supporters of orders for Americans to stay
at home, and businesses to remain closed, to prevent the further
spread of the virus.
The United States has by far the world's largest number of
confirmed coronavirus cases, with more than 750,000 infections
and over 40,000 deaths.
An agreement on an interim deal would end a stalemate over
Trump's request to add $250 billion to a small-business loan
program established last month as part of a $2.3 trillion
coronavirus economic relief plan. That fund has already been
exhausted.
Democratic leaders want more money for small businesses but with
safeguards to ensure credit reaches underserved communities.
They also sought more funds for state and local governments and
hospitals, as well as food aid for the poor.
Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Treasury
Secretary Steven Mnuchin told senators on a conference call on
Sunday that additional funding Democrats wanted would not be in
the package.
Congress plans to take up another major coronavirus relief
measure after the small-business fund is replenished. In a
possible precursor, Democratic Senator Bob Menendez and
Republican Senator Bill Cassidy said on Sunday they would
formally introduce legislation to create a $500 billion fund to
help state and local governments respond to the crisis.
Trump told his news briefing that he was in favor of aid to
state and local governments, but in future legislation.
House leaders put out a schedule update saying a vote on interim
legislation was likely this week, and that the chamber could
meet as early as Wednesday.
GOVERNORS SPARRING WITH TRUMP
As they spar with Trump over when to reopen their economies,
governors of hard-hit states have said they need more federal
funding for increased testing and to cope with the pandemic's
effect on their budgets.
"You have the president saying 15 times, 'It's up to the
governors, it's up to the governors, it's up to the governors.'
And then they're going to pass a piece of legislation that gives
you know what to states? Zero," New York Governor Andrew Cuomo,
a Democrat, said at his daily coronavirus briefing.
Trump said Vice President Mike Pence would lead a call with all
50 state governors on Monday to talk about further aid.
Mnuchin said on CNN the deal being discussed with Congress would
include $300 billion more for the Paycheck Protection Program
loan program for small businesses.
He said there would be $75 billion allocated to hospitals and a
$25 billion federal program "that can be used with the states
with new technology to invest in testing."
About $50 billion would be added to the Small Business
Administration (SBA) disaster loan fund, Mnuchin said.
Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the Democratic-controlled House of
Representatives, told ABC's "This Week" that Democrats wanted to
ensure further relief money was reaching "all of America's small
businesses."
More than 25% of the $350 billion already allocated went to
fewer than 2% of the firms that got relief, and they included
publicly traded companies with thousands of employees, highly
paid executives and hundreds of millions of dollars in annual
sales.
Trump defended restaurant chains, hotel operators and hedge
funds accessing funding meant for small businesses.
“Even if it’s owned by a big chain, it’s devastating, you know,”
he said. "I read where my wonderful place in Florida, in Miami,
Doral, they had a lot of the employees go because it is
essentially closed."
(Reporting by Nandita Bose, Lindsay Dunsmuir, Susan Cornwell and
Doina Chiacu in Washington; Additional reporting by Gabriela
Borter and Barbara Goldberg in New York and Patricia Zengerle in
Washington; Writing by Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Daniel
Wallis, Grant McCool, Peter Cooney and Cynthia Osterman)
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