Pelosi says she is keeping the House in session until lawmakers pass stimulus


  • Speaker Nancy Pelosi vowed to keep the House in session until a deal is struck on coronavirus relief legislation.
  • “We are committed to staying here until we have an agreement that meets the needs of the American people,” Pelosi said in a CNBC interview.
  • It is unclear whether the move would help break the deadlock and lead to a stimulus deal.
  • Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Tuesday that the House was “committed” to staying in session until lawmakers acted on a coronavirus relief package.

During a CNBC interview on Tuesday, Pelosi said an agreement was pivotal to shoring up the economy.

“We are committed to staying here until we have an agreement that meets the needs of the American people,” Pelosi said in a CNBC interview. “We’re optimistic that the White House will understand that we have to do some things.”

Pelosi’s remarks came after a bipartisan group of House lawmakers rolled out a $1.5 trillion stimulus plan in a last-ditch effort to set the stage for talks between the White House and Democrats. It is unclear whether the moves would end up snapping the deadlock and lead to an agreement.

Jared Kushner, a top White House adviser, said on Tuesday that a deal “may have to happen after the election, because there obviously are politics involved.”

Read more: Morgan Stanley says the stock market’s future is ‘unusually dependent’ on another stimulus package — and recommends 5 portfolio moves to make if Congress passes another round

The House is scheduled be out of session early next month.

Negotiations on a coronavirus relief bill fell apart last month over a fierce dispute on the amount of government spending needed to prop up the economy. Democrats sought $2.2 trillion in additional spending, but Republicans balked at the amount.

State aid and federal unemployment benefits formed the two biggest rifts in talks between Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Pelosi.

Critical parts of the last economic stimulus that Congress approved in March have expired. Nearly 30 million Americans remain on unemployment benefits, and a program the Trump administration put in place with executive action early last month is already depleted of funding.



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