Rep. Ro Khanna said Wednesday that he has "great admiration" for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her negotiating skills, but he still believes she should consider the White House's $1.8 trillion coronavirus relief proposal, even though she dismissed his concerns during a contentious interview.
"I'm just talking about people I hear in my district," the California Democrat told CNN. "I represent Silicon Valley in Cupertino, where you have Apple computers. We have food banks, lines of thousands of people who don't have enough food to feed their kids ... I'm speaking for them."
Pelosi, also a California Democrat, snapped back at CNN's Wolf Blitzer Tuesday when he asked her about tweets Khanna and former presidential candidate Andrew Yang posted asking that she consider the White House offer.
"Andrew Yang, he's lovely. Ro Khanna, he's lovely," Pelosi told Blitzer. "They are not negotiating this situation. They have no idea of the particulars."
Pelosi also slammed Blitzer as an "apologist" for the Trump administration.
Khanna said there are probably several other House Democrats who want a bill to be signed, and he does think Pelosi is right with her call to amend many parts of the White House proposal.
"We're not as far apart as people may think," Khanna said, adding that if a deal is reached, Democrats should not "take exactly" what the White House wants, but he does think both sides are close enough to come to an agreement.
"If the speaker has a way of saying in one week we're getting a $2.2 trillion deal, then I'm not ruling that out, great," said Khanna. "We have to help people who are in need. If she believes waiting a few days is going to get us $2.2 trillion, more power to her and I support that. But what I'm trying to say and a lot of members believe is what is unacceptable is for us to go away with no deal."
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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