White House Increases Stimulus Offer to $1.6 Trillion

By Dana Cruz First Posted: Oct 01, 2020 10:07 PM EDT

House Speaker Pelosi And Treasury Secretary Mnuchin Continue COVID Relief Talks

(Photo : Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin departs from the office of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell at the U.S. Capitol on September 30, 2020 in Washington, DC.

White House gave its biggest stimulus offer yet during a closed-door meeting with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday.

From $1.3 trillion, the White House offer was upped to $1.6 trillion, said a Fortune report. It is still below what the Democratic leaders requested but will be enough to delay a Wednesday vote on the revised $2.2 trillion HEROES Act.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin was the one to deliver the White House stimulus offer to Pelosi, and the two parties are expected to continue negotiations.

Over the summer, talks on the stimulus broke down. It seemed like both sides of the negotiation were not willing to adjust offers.

The House passed a $3.4 trillion relief package in May and Republicans offered $500 billion.

Democrats said the counterproposal was not enough to meet the needs of the country amid the pandemic.

House Democrats, including Pelosi, repeatedly pushed White House negotiators to boost their $1.3 trillion offer by another trillion dollars.

Last September 28, they unveiled the revamped HEROES Act with a $2.2 trillion.

Unemployment Benefits

The Republican offer includes $400 weekly enhanced unemployment benefits. These benefits will be paid on top of state benefits and retroactively.

The offer provides a September 12 to January 1, 2021 timeline for the claiming of unemployment benefits, according to Roll Call.

President Donald Trump issued a memorandum in August granting $300 in weekly benefits. Funds for it have since been exhausted and will be replaced by the new proposal of $400.

White House negotiators offered far less than the $600 per week that Democrats proposed under HEROES Act. But the $400 benefit is double than the Senate Republican's $200 proposal back in July.

More State, Local Funds

The White House stimulus offer would also include $250 billion for funding states and local governments. It is also lower than the House Democrats request, which is more than $430 billion.

It may be lower than the Democrat's offer, but it is still higher than their initial offer of $100 billion.

Other Inclusions

The latest offer from the White House will also allocate $150 billion for education and $75 billion for coronavirus-related projects. It will also include $60 billion for the mortgage and rental assistance and $15 billion for food programs.

If both parties strike a deal on the stimulus package, it was assured by all negotiators that a $1,200 stimulus check would materialize. It will also include $500 for dependents.

But if negotiators fail to compromise by Thursday, House Democrats are likely to vote on the revamped HEROES Act. The proposal garnered high opposition from Republicans and is unlikely to be signed into law.

Congress is bound to go on recess for October, forcing Senate Republicans to go home without passing a stimulus bill since the spring.

Despite the confusion on the real price of the second stimulus package, Pelosi is hopeful that there will be a deal before the recess happens.

"The speaker thinks there's a possibility of getting a deal," said House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer.

If there will be a deal, the House might wait for several dates to vote on and fine-tune the legislative text. "But if we don't have a deal, then we're going to move the bill," said Hoyer.