Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told reporters Tuesday he supports President Trump’s move to end coronavirus aid talks with Democrats.
The Kentucky Republican told Capitol Hill reporters he agreed with the decision, which followed weeks of fruitless talks between Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.
Recommended Stories
“I think his view was that they were not going to produce a result and that we needed to concentrate on what’s achievable,” McConnell said.
Trump tweeted earlier Tuesday he is calling off the talks after Democrats rejected a $1.6 trillion offer from Mnuchin.
Democrats are seeking a package worth $2.4 trillion and are refusing to back a provision to provide lawsuit liability protections for schools, businesses, and healthcare facilities that McConnell said must be included in any package he brings to the Senate floor.
Trump accused Pelosi of failing to “negotiate in good faith.”
Trump, in a series of tweets, said he would pass a stimulus package if he wins reelection and told McConnell to use the Senate time before Nov. 3 to confirm Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court.
Trump tweeted, “I have asked Mitch McConnell not to delay, but to instead focus full time on approving my outstanding nominee to the United States Supreme Court, Amy Coney Barrett.”
Democrats are eager to now shift the blame for the aid stalemate to Trump.
Pelosi, in a statement, claimed the White House is “in complete disarray.”
She wrote a memo to fellow Democrats Tuesday blaming Trump for the impasse.
“Today, once again, President Trump showed his true colors: putting himself first at the expense of the country, with the full complicity of the GOP Members of Congress,” Pelosi wrote to her caucus.
Centrist Democrats running for reelection in tough swing districts had been pressuring Pelosi to compromise with Republicans and pass a new round of aid. Some found a political escape route for themselves in Trump’s tweet.
“President Trump has condemned people in communities across Iowa to suffer and wait until he’s willing to return to the negotiating table,” Rep. Cindy Axne, an Iowa Democrat, said. “It is unconscionable that he has done so over claiming that he is uninterested in supporting vital local services like our schools and first responders.”
