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Nancy Pelosi wants an agreement on stimulus package this week: "That's the plan"
Photo: T IngShen / liujie / imago images / Xinhua
Democrats and Republicans have been negotiating a new, trillion dollar aid package for the US economy for weeks.
After US President Donald Trump had declared the talks to have failed at the beginning of October, an agreement is now apparently imminent - and Trump is also striking a new note.
The US House of Representatives spokeswoman Nancy Pelosi said she was confident of achieving a breakthrough in talks on a new US stimulus package by the end of the week.
When asked by reporters on Tuesday whether an agreement could be reached by the end of the week, Pelosi replied, "I hope so. That's the plan."
Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin agreed on further points during a 45-minute conversation, wrote Pelosi's spokesman Drew Hammill on Twitter on Tuesday.
Talks would continue on Wednesday and "both sides are serious about finding a compromise".
Pelosi said earlier this week that an agreement would have to be in place by Tuesday so that a corresponding law could come into force by election day.
This period has now passed.
The US Presidential Office and Congress are under increasing pressure to provide further aid for the economy, which is badly affected by the pandemic.
Trump wants to oppose party colleagues
Unlike a few weeks ago, however, President Trump was also optimistic.
Trump told Fox News that he would approve sums in excess of the $ 2.2 trillion demanded by opposition Democrats, even against the opposition of his Republican party friends.
"I want to make it even bigger than the Democrats," said Trump, who is currently campaigning.
His government originally proposed $ 1.8 trillion.
Trump's Republicans in the Senate are reluctant to spend on this scale.
The Republican majority leader in the Senate, Mitch McConnell, is said to have advised his party colleagues not to come to an agreement with the Democrats before the presidential election on November 3rd.
This is reported by the "New York Times".
Accordingly, the Republicans fear that Trump in the election campaign is hastily pushing for an agreement that contradicts the fundamental position of the Republicans.
That could lead to an intra-party conflict before the election.
On the night from Thursday to Friday, Trump's next TV duel against his Democratic challenger Joe Biden will take place.
Then the stimulus package could also be an issue.
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ptz / Reuters