Pelosi, Schumer on Trump’s Call for Bigger Relief Bill: ‘We Are Encouraged’

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) are praising President Donald Trump after he urged Republican lawmakers to “go for the much higher numbers” in coronavirus relief negotiations.

“We are encouraged that after months of the Senate Republicans insisting on shortchanging the massive needs of the American people, President Trump is now calling on Republicans to ‘go for the much higher numbers’ in the next coronavirus relief package,” Pelosi and Schumer said in a statement.

They added, “We look forward to hearing from the President’s negotiators that they will finally meet us halfway with a bill that is equal to the massive health and economic crises gripping our nation.”

The Democratic lawmakers noted 200,000 Americans will have died from the coronavirus by the end of the week.

“The lives and livelihoods of the American people depend on Republicans abandoning their obsession with doing as little as possible while the coronavirus rages through our nation,” Pelosi and Schumer said.

Trump took to Twitter on Wednesday to call for a bigger relief package, as IJR previously reported.

While he called Democrats “heartless,” he still encouraged Republicans to increase the price tag on the bill.

Pelosi and Schumer’s statement comes just days after the Senate killed the GOP backed bill, as IJR previously reported.

The bill would have provided around $300 billion in new coronavirus aid.

During a CNBC interview on Tuesday, Pelosi explained, “We are committed to staying here until we have an agreement.”

According to her, the disagreements are based on how to “crush the virus.”

She told CNN on Friday she is “optimistic” Congress will pass another relief package ahead of the Nov. 3 presidential election.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), on the contrary, said, “it doesn’t look that good right now.”