White House, Democrats no closer to reaching stimulus deal after unemployment benefits expire
02 August 2020
Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi took the standoff on the next coronavirus stimulus package to ABC's "This Week" on Sunday.
Why it matters: Enhanced unemployment insurance expired for tens of millions of Americans on July 31, while those in talks to secure the next coronavirus stimulus package have made it clear that a deal is a long way off.
What they're saying: "We have been for the $600. They have a $200 proposal, which does not meet the needs of America's working families. And it's a condescension, quite frankly, because they're saying, [they] really don't need it, they're just staying home, they're making more money because it's $600," Pelosi told ABC.
- Minutes later Mnuchin said on the same program: "We proposed a one-week extension at $600 so that while we negotiate a longer-term solution, at least all those people don't lose their money. And I'm surprised the Democrats won't agree to that. They are insistent on having this as part of a larger deal."
Where it stands: Senate Republicans proposed a plan last week that would cut weekly unemployment payments from $600 to $200, the Washington Post reports. House Democrats are in support of a $3-trillion coronavirus stimulus package, in contrast to a $1 trillion plan from Republicans and the White House.
Go deeper: Senate adjourns without extending expiring unemployment benefits
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly 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.