(Bloomberg) — President Donald Trump said talks on an economic stimulus plan are now “starting to work out” despite pulling his side out of negotiations earlier this week, though there was no sign the two sides are any closer on a comprehensive deal.
“I think we have a really good chance of doing something,” Trump said Thursday morning in a live interview with Maria Bartiromo on Fox Business. There are now “very productive talks” on coronavirus relief, he said.
The White House and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi have indicated willingness to strike a deal to aid U.S. airlines, but the Democratic leader has continued to resist putting other individual pieces of her party’s broader stimulus package up for a vote. In addition, there are differences between the two parties on the structure of airline aid.
Months of stop-and-start negotiations on a stimulus package to shore up a slowing economic recovery were abruptly halted Tuesday, when Trump pulled his team out of the talks. He then called on Pelosi to send him standalone assistance bills, including for airlines and individual stimulus checks.
Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin held phone calls Wednesday on potential aid for the airline industry, and they are scheduled to speak again on Thursday.
Pelosi on Wednesday rejected pressure from Trump to green-light a bill authorizing $1,200 individual stimulus checks, saying that was insufficient to address the Covid-19 challenge.
Multiple Items
Trump claimed Thursday morning that those checks, and other measures, are on the table, however.
“We started talking again. And we’re talking about airlines and we’re talking about a bigger deal than airlines,” Trump said. “We’re talking about a deal with $1,200 per person, we’re talking about other things.”
Continuing hopes for a stimulus deal have contributed to gains in stocks since they tanked in the wake of Trump’s announcement Tuesday about pulling out of the talks. S&P 500 Index futures were up 0.6% as of 8:50 a.m. in New York.
Negotiations among House Democrats and the Senate calendar make it unlikely that a stand-alone bill to help airlines — which are already hemorrhaging tens of thousands of jobs — will reach the president’s desk before the end of October.
While a measure could pass quickly if no lawmaker in either chamber objects, a House official familiar with discussions said that is unlikely to happen this week, if at all.
Some House Democrats remain opposed to the idea of singling out the airline industry for such action — opposition Pelosi previously shared. There would almost certainly have to be some explaining by the speaker to avoid objections, the person said.
“I don’t think they are going to be able to get unanimous consent — it’s hard to get that on just about anything,” said Stephen Myrow, a Washington-based analyst who runs Beacon Policy Advisers. “This can’t get done until the week of October 19 when the Senate returns to Washington.”
Airline Bill
Mnuchin’s calls Wednesday underscored the Trump administration’s concern about the state of the airline industry, which has been walloped by the Covid-19 crisis and seen tens of thousands of job cuts. Carriers have furloughed about 38,000 people since Oct. 1, including major layoffs at American Airlines Group Inc. and United Airlines Holdings Inc.
A government report Thursday showcased the continuing impact of the coronavirus crisis on the job market, with 840,000 initial claims for unemployment insurance in the most recent week in regular state programs. That’s more than quadruple the level before the pandemic hit, and higher than the peak of the 2007-09 recession.
House Transportation Committee Chairman Peter DeFazio last week asked for unanimous consent on a bill to extend expiring aid $28 billion in aid through March for airlines, but House Republicans objected, saying they hadn’t been consulted.
House members aren’t planning to be back in Washington before the Nov. 3 election, but Pelosi previously said they could be called back to vote on additional stimulus measures.
Federal Reserve officials led by Chairman Jerome Powell this week stepped up their calls for a broad relief package to help the unemployed and endangered businesses, highlighting concern about undermining the economic recovery.
During an appearance Wednesday on ABC’s “The View,” Pelosi didn’t explicitly shut the door on continuing negotiations with Trump and the administration, or potential measures focused on new stimulus checks, aid for airlines or other issues.
But she did disparage the idea of just sending stimulus checks without the other relief Democrats have been seeking.
“Well it’s hard to see any clear sane path in anything that he is doing. But the fact is, is that he saw the political downside of his statement of walking away from the negotiations,” said Pelosi of Trump. “All he has ever wanted in negotiation was to send out a check with his name printed on it. Forget about the virus.”
(Updates with vote timing beginning in the 10th paragraph)
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