Trump: No Stimulus Until After Election

News October 06, 2020 at 04:43 PM
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President Donald Trump Photo: Stefani Reynolds/CNP/Bloomberg

President Donald Trump said via Twitter Tuesday afternoon that he has instructed his "representatives to stop negotiating" on a new stimulus package until after the election.

Trump continued in his tweet: "…immediately after I win, we will pass a major Stimulus Bill that focuses on hardworking Americans and Small Business."

Trump tweeted that has asked Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., to focus full time on approving his "outstanding nominee," Amy Coney Barrett, to the U.S. Supreme Court.

McConnell has suspended Senate floor proceedings until Oct. 19, but confirmation hearings for Barrett's nomination will convene on Oct. 12.

Trump's tweets come just after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell warned Tuesday that more policy intervention was needed by monetary and fiscal authorities.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin resumed their phone talks over a stimulus package on Tuesday.

Said Trump in his tweet: "Nancy Pelosi is asking for $2.4 Trillion Dollars to bailout poorly run, high crime, Democrat States, money that is in no way related to COVID-19. We made a very generous offer of $1.6 Trillion Dollars and, as usual, she is not negotiating in good faith. I am rejecting their……request, and looking to the future of our Country."

Democrats' Response

Pelosi said in a statement after Trump's tweet that "clearly, the White House is in complete disarray. Sadly, they are rejecting the urgent warnings of Fed Chairman Powell today, that 'Too little support would lead to a weak recovery, creating unnecessary hardship for households and businesses."

Added Pelosi: "Walking away from coronavirus talks demonstrates that President Trump is unwilling to crush the virus, as is required by the Heroes Act."

House Democrats' revised $2.2 trillion Heroes Act, released Sept. 29, passed the House on Oct. 1.

Trump, Pelosi continued, "shows his contempt for science, his disdain for our heroes — in health care, first responders, sanitation, transportation, food workers, teachers, teachers, teachers and others — and he refuses to put money in workers' pockets, unless his name is printed on the check."

The president on Monday returned from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, where for three days he was treated for COVID-19. At the hospital he received the steroid dexamethasone, according to his medical team.

Twitter observers were quick to weigh in on Trump's tweet.

David Axelrod, former chief strategist for Barack Obama's presidential campaigns, tweeted: "I have said it for the past two days: the @POTUS is on drugs we know to impact on mood and judgment. He should not be making consequential decisions. This is why we HAVE a 25th Amendment!"

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