By Sahil Kapur - NBC News
The president's top adviser, Donald Trump, cast doubt on Monday about whether the Republicans themselves in the Senate will be able to validate the new pandemic aid package before the November 3 elections, while the White House continues negotiations with the president. of the House of Representatives, Democrat Nancy Pelosi, who yesterday warned that there are only 48 hours left to try its approval.
White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows said he is hopeful a deal could be reached with Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin within the next 48 hours, but cautioned that it is "too early to say." whether enough Republicans in the Senate would support the stimulus package that some consider too high.
Meadows said "Senate Republicans have been very clear" in opposing a figure "even close" to the $ 1.8 trillion that Trump supports.
"I can tell you this, that there are some in the Senate who would support him. If there are enough votes to reach the 60-vote threshold, that depends on leader McConnell," Meadows told reporters outside the White House.
[A new relief package (including the expected second check for $ 1,200) is far from being finalized. We explain]
The most controversial point of that agreement remains the final cost: Democrats have approved their plan in the House of Representatives, of $ 2.2 billion and with a check of $ 1,200 for citizens and aid of $ 600 for the unemployed.
The president has endorsed an ambitious plan this ambitious;
but Senate Republicans are reluctant to accept it.
The disconnect between Trump and Republican senators, who for months have opposed the high cost of it, could undermine efforts to pass new aid checks before the election.
Reaching a deal has been a priority for Trump, who is trying to shore up his position with voters who have given him poor marks for his handling of COVID-19.
[Millions of Americans face an uncertain future without federal unemployment assistance and waiting for a new economic stimulus package]
Meadows said Trump will not yet contact senators to try to get them to support the plan because the Administration has not gotten close enough to a deal with Democrats.
Talks continue this afternoon between Pelosi Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, who is traveling in the Middle East through Tuesday.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Republican, announced Saturday that the Upper House will vote on a bill Tuesday to extend the resources of the Salary Protection Program (PPP), which offers aid to small businesses. to pay wages and resist the crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic;
and the next day, on Wednesday, he will try to pass a half-billion-dollar economic aid package that already failed in September by the Democratic opposition, and that includes the $ 1,200 check for citizens.
Trump has been on Twitter against this plan, because he prefers more ambitious proposals that include a second check;
Nor are the Democrats backing it because they defend an even bigger bill that includes social benefits for those hit by the brutal economic recession.
Meadows recalled that McConnell "agreed" to bring a bipartisan agreement between the White House and Pelosi to a vote in the Senate.
"If President Pelosi ever allows the House to reach a bipartisan agreement with the Administration, the Senate, of course, will consider it," McConnell said.
[Invoking the 25th Amendment: Nancy Pelosi Proposes Possible Congressional Intervention Following Donald Trump Contagion]
McConnell indicated that the bill to be voted on Wednesday includes new unemployment benefits (such as those approved by Congress in the spring of $ 600 a week, which ended in July, although less), as well as funds for small businesses, to increase the number of diagnostic tests, and improve protective measures in schools.
He also again criticized the Democratic Party, and Pelosi in particular, for the stalemate in the negotiations.
McConnell's top priority at the moment is securing the confirmation of Trump's Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett before the election in a vote that would take place in the Senate next week, days before Presidential Day. November 3.
