WASHINGTON (NewsNation Now) — The U.S. House of Representatives will not vote on a stimulus bill Wednesday night as originally planned, but Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said the two sides reached an agreement on direct payments to Americans if there is a deal.
Mnuchin said on Fox Business Network that the Trump administration would not accept Democrats’ proposal for a $2.2 trillion coronavirus aid package, and indicated he wanted a deal closer to $1.5 trillion.
“We’re not going to do a $2.2 trillion dollar deal,” Mnuchin said.
Asked if a compromise of $1.5 trillion would be acceptable, Mnuchin said: “It’s in that neighborhood.”
The Democratic-controlled House was originally expected to vote Wednesday night on a partisan $2.2 trillion virus relief bill that is strongly opposed by Republicans.
This comes after Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Mnuchin met on Capitol Hill Wednesday to negotiate the next aid package. They are delaying to hopefully continue negotiations, sources confirmed to NewsNation.
“The House will be proceeding with our vote tonight on the updated #HeroesAct in order to formalize our proffer to Republicans in the negotiations to address the health and economic catastrophe in our country,” Pelosi had said on Twitter Wednesday afternoon.
“We made a lot of progress over the last few days. We still don’t have an agreement,” Mnuchin said
One of the areas of differences is another round of $1,200 direct stimulus payments, restoring bonus pandemic jobless benefits, speed aid to schools and extend assistance to airlines, restaurants and other struggling businesses.
A $2 trillion relief bill in March passed with sweeping support.
Mnuchin said Wednesday morning that he would tender a new offer resembling a plan released a couple of weeks ago by the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus. That proposal was previously rejected by Pelosi and other top Democrats as inadequate. It totals about $1.5 trillion and would provide additional jobless benefits if unemployment remains unacceptably high.
