Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Stimulus Impasse May Drag Into September As Trump Says Deal Is 'Not Going To Happen'
The Washington Post: Relief Talks Stumble Again As Trump Asserts A Deal Is ‘Not Going To Happen’
A new attempt to restart economic relief negotiations between the White House and Democrats ended just minutes after it began on Wednesday, with President Trump appearing to cast doubt on the whole process by announcing a deal is “not going to happen.” Just a few days earlier, he had suggested the he was open to a new round of talks. In declaring the whole process over, Trump used a news conference to criticize Democrats’ proposals for funding election preparations and the Postal Service as part of a broader spending measure. (Werner and Stein, 8/12)
Politico: Standoff Over Covid Relief Could Drag Into September
White House officials and top Democratic leaders signaled on Wednesday that they can’t agree on what they said to each other, much less forge a compromise, on a Covid-19 relief bill to help the battered U.S. economy or tens of millions of Americans facing financial hardship. The high-stakes stalemate now appears likely to drag on for weeks, or even into September, according to lawmakers and aides in both parties. (Levine and Bresnahan, 8/12)
The Hill: Pelosi, Mnuchin Talk But Make No Progress On Ending Stalemate
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin spoke by phone Wednesday but appeared to make no progress toward breaking the impasse on a fifth coronavirus relief package. The call — initiated by Mnuchin, according to a source familiar with the conversation — is the first time they've spoken since talks collapsed last Friday. (Carney, 8/12)
The Hill: Pelosi Says COVID-19 Aid Can't Wait Until September: 'People Will Die'
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Wednesday she hopes negotiations over a coronavirus relief package don't drag on into next month, warning that kind of delay means "people will die." The talks between Pelosi, Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and White House chief of staff Mark Meadows collapsed last Friday after almost two weeks of near-daily meetings. The stalemate has left both sides still pointing fingers. (Marcos, 8/12)
In related developments —
The Hill: Top Fed Official Says Quick Reopenings Damaged Recovery From Coronavirus
A top Federal Reserve official said Wednesday that the inability of the U.S. to control the coronavirus pandemic limited the benefit of trillions in fiscal stimulus approved by President Trump and Congress earlier this year. Eric Rosengren, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, said in a Wednesday interview with The Hill that the abrupt peel-back of restrictions imposed to slow the pandemic in the U.S. prevented record-breaking economic rescue efforts from fostering a quick recovery. (Lane, 8/12)
ABC News: As Americans Await Financial Help, Trump's Unemployment Relief Move Confuses States
The president’s recent executive action designed to bring economic relief to families struggling during the pandemic does not mean a new round of government checks are about to arrive in the mail. Instead, Donald Trump's recent announcement about additional unemployment benefits intended for millions of Americans has more quickly produced confusion among some state officials about where a large portion of the money will be coming from and the financial burden each state may be expected to take on -- all amid some mixed messages from the White House and scant federal guidance on how it all would actually work. (Kim, Romero and Faulders, 8/12)
The Washington Post: Trump Says Postal Service Needs Money For Mail-In Voting, But He’ll Keep Blocking Funding
President Trump says the U.S. Postal Service is incapable of facilitating mail-in voting because it cannot access the emergency funding he is blocking, and made clear that requests for additional aid were nonstarters in coronavirus relief negotiations. Trump, who has been railing against mail-in balloting for months, said the cash-strapped agency’s enlarged role in the November election would perpetuate “one of the greatest frauds in history.” Speaking Wednesday at his daily pandemic news briefing, Trump said he would not approve $25 billion in emergency funding for the Postal Service, or $3.5 billion in supplemental funding for election resources, citing prohibitively high costs. (Bogage, 8/12)
