U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (C) walks pass the Ohio Clock Corridor on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., the United States, Aug. 10, 2020. Mitch McConnell on Tuesday urged the White House and congressional Democrats to restart negotiations on the next COVID-19 relief bill after talks broke down last week. (Photo by Ting Shen/Xinhua)
WASHINGTON, Aug. 11 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday urged the White House and congressional Democrats to restart negotiations on the next COVID-19 relief bill after talks broke down last week.
"There hasn't been a meeting of any consequence between the two parties since last Friday. That's too long. And it's time to sit down and get a deal done," McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, said in an interview with Fox News.
"The American people are sick of the stalemate. They want to get a result. And the result ought to be directly related to the COVID-19 crisis, kids back in school, jobs, healthcare, direct cash payments to low-income people, who need our help," he said.
Negotiations between House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and White House chief of staff Mark Meadows collapsed on Friday as both sides blamed each other for making little progress.
Democrats had offered to cut their 3.4 trillion-U.S.-dollar relief proposal by 1 trillion dollars if Republicans would agree to increase their roughly 1 trillion-dollar package by the same amount, but were rebuffed.
U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday signed a series of executive orders to extend certain COVID-19 economic relief, but they're unlikely to provide a meaningful boost to the overall economy.
"Rather than trying to break the logjam, President Trump issued a bunch of unworkable, weak executive orders. He slashed enhanced unemployment benefits and his executive order on evictions doesn't even guarantee a moratorium on evictions," Schumer tweeted Tuesday.
"Senate GOP delayed for months, failed to come up with a proposal that had the support of their own caucus, then left it for someone else to figure out. Even now, Sen. McConnell has said 20 GOP senators won't vote for any more COVID relief," Schumer said, adding Republicans must come back to the negotiating table.
Economists have warned that the U.S. economy is at serious risk of sliding back into recession if the White House and Congress couldn't reach a deal on another fiscal rescue package in the coming months.
