US stimulus negotiations will start 'in earnest' on Monday, says White House Chief of Staff
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy will meet with President Trump and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, “to actually start to fine tune it”
White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows Sunday said that the administration has been engaged in discussions on the next stimulus bill for the past week, but negotiations will start "in earnest" Monday on Capitol Hill.
"As we've started to engage with our Senate and House colleagues up on Capitol Hill, those will start in earnest starting tomorrow, Monday," Meadows said in an interview on Fox News, reports the CNN.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy will meet with President Trump and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, "to actually start to fine tune it," Meadows added.
The White House and Senate Republicans are at odds over the amount of funding that should be given to the Centers for Disease and Control and Prevention in the next round of stimulus spending, a source said.
He outlined the administration's priorities for the next stimulus package: expediting warp speed for treatments and keeping people employed, and making sure there are "protections for the American workers and those that employ individuals."
"Whether it's a payroll tax deduction, whether it's making sure that unemployment benefits continue without a disincentive to return to work," Meadows noted. The issue of continuing unemployment benefits has been a sticking point for Democrats in negotiations.
"It looks like" the bill will be in the trillion dollar range, Meadows stated.
Meadows added, "bluntly we are looking at a number of areas to look at manufacturing, bringing some of those critical manufacturing jobs back from overseas."
The Chief of Staff announced that there will be "multiple initiatives" coming out this week, including one on schools.
Meadows said that the President has "already authorized to work Congress" over 70 billion dollars for schools, and that "you will see a very broad five to six points in terms of what we will be doing in terms of making sure that our schools are safe."