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Trump, Senate Republicans at odds over stalled stimulus talks

15 October 2020
 Dan Ackermann

The stimulus negotiations are beginning to remind me of running on a treadmill — lots of effort, no forward motion.

Why it matters: The economy and American workers need help. Democrats say so. President Trump says so. Fed chair Jay Powell says so, adding that there's a low risk of "overdoing it." At some point, such inaction will catch up to investors.

  • This comes against a backdrop of a still-raging pandemic. Yesterday, for example, showed increased COVID-19 caseloads in all 50 states, while over 100 million Americans remain out of the labor force.

State of play: House Speaker Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Mnuchin talked yesterday and will talk again today.

  • One possible breakthrough is on the Democrats' ask for a national testing plan, which Mnuchin this morning said on CNBC that the White House will now support.
  • No word yet on if the WH will relent on another sticking point, related to expansions of the child tax credit and earned income tax credit. Or if Pelosi will give the WH a win on virus-related liability protections for businesses and schools.

What to know: President Trump said on Fox Business this morning that he would "absolutely" go higher than a $1.8 trillion proposal, and that he has directed Mnuchin to do so. But there isn't actually a WH proposal to negotiate against, at least not in document form.

The biggest hurdle is Senate Republicans, who have been left out of negotiations and who seem uninterested in comprehensive stimulus. One explanation is that McConnell is laser-focused on SCOTUS, but it's unclear why he won't walk and chew stimulus at the same time — particularly given how much Trump wants a deal before the election.

  • McConnell is, however, at least baking some stimulus crumbs by proposing a series of doomed "skinny bills," including an upcoming one to create a second round of PPP loans.
  • Democrats haven't given terribly compelling reasons for why they keep rejecting these piecemeal proposals out of hand, particularly in light of their recent willingness to pass a standalone US Postal Service bailout bill (which, conversely, McConnell ignored).

Where it stands: "I’m proposing what we think is appropriate," said McConnell when asked about Trump's "Go big or go home!!!" directive on stimulus. McConnell issued a statement on Tuesday saying that the Senate's "first order of business" when it returns on Oct. 19 will be to vote on a $500 billion targeted bill.

The bottom line: Most of the CARES Act benefits expired months ago, and we're now less than three weeks away from an election in which most of those who've failed to adequately follow-up are on the ballot.

🎧 Go deeper: Axios Re:Cap discusses the stimulus stalemate with House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer. Plus, a dive into AEI's economic analysis of Joe Biden's tax plan. Listen viaApple,Spotify, orAxios.

Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times

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Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.

Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.

The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.

  • The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.

What the transcripts say:

  • Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
  • The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
  • Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."

Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.