House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Wednesday there is now a "prospect for an agreement" on a Coronavirus relief deal.
"I'm pretty happy," the California Democrat, who has been negotiating with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, told MSNBC anchor Andrea Mitchell. "I think we have a prospect for an agreement. I do not believe that our timetable has come and gone."
Pelosi had said in recent interviews that a deal must have been reached by Tuesday in order to get a deal approved before next month's election, but on Wednesday, she said that there remains some delay on the part of Republicans about the appropriations included in the plan, but she hopes that will be resolved.
"It's just a question, then, of weighing the equities," she said. "Is this worth that? But we do need more money, and we need it to be spent in a way to crush the virus. They finally have arrived at that, after all these months."
Part of the discussion now is the matter of allocating money to make the nation's schools safer so children can return.
"It takes some money for more classes, more teachers, more ventilation, more technology, and the rest. But it takes not that much more money to make it safe," said Pelosi, adding that if children are back in school, their parents can go to work.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has warned the White House against reaching a deal before the election, reports The Washington Post, but Pelosi said she's still optimistic.
"Let's keep working so that we can do it after the election," she said. "We want it before. But, again, I want people to know, help is on the way. It will be bigger, it will be better, it will be safer, and it will be retroactive."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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