On a busy NFL Sunday, a football metaphor was firmly in the starting lineup as both sides involved in the COVID-19 stimulus package negotiations prepared for a critical week.
Both House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows said the other side was “moving the goalposts.”
As the clock ticks down toward Election Day, Meadows did provide a little optimism.
“We’re up to $1.9 trillion. … I do have a commitment from Leader (Sen. Majority Leader Mitch) McConnell that if we get an agreement, he is willing to bring it to the floor and get it passed,” Meadows told “State of the Union” on Sunday.
On the same program, Pelosi said a deal could still happen this week but that her side has the goal to “make the bill bigger, better and safer for you, and the benefits will be retroactive.”
She repeated the opinion that McConnell prefers to wait before bringing any bill to a Senate vote: “Mitch has said ‘Keep working,’ and he doesn’t want to do it before the election. We want to do it as soon as possible.”
Pelosi said she’s made significant concessions, a sentiment echoed by Meadows.
“We continue to make offer after offer after offer,” Meadows said, “and Nancy Pelosi keeps moving the goalposts.”
Long before any package can reach the end zone, more work is needed.
“We cannot just say, ‘Mr. President, here is trillions of dollars and spend it any way you have. We have a plan, a strategic plan,” Pelosi said. “… They keeping moving the goalposts. Let’s be hopeful. We are nine days before an election. We’re trying to unify the country.”
Pelosi said her team expects a response from Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Monday.
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