Stephen Moore: Republicans need to focus on negotiating with Pelosi on coronavirus stimulus

Economist Stephen Moore advised Republicans to focus on negotiating with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) ahead of the next coronavirus stimulus plan to be introduced by the Senate GOP on Monday. 

The Trump economist said Republican lawmakers have to present unity and stop “negotiating with themselves,” calling for partisan agreement among conservatives to “do something about those $600 a week unemployment benefits,” adding that they disincentivize people from rejoining the workforce.

“Republicans have to say what they stand for here. They have to stand up for tax cuts, deregulation, school choice, all of these things that need to be in the stimulus bill, but right now it looks like they are not,” Moore said Sunday on John Catsimatidis’s radio show on WABC 770 AM.

“My message to Donald Trump is a bad stimulus plan is worse for the American economy than no plan at all,” Moore added.

Moore’s comments come as negotiations between Republicans and the White House have been ongoing about the next coronavirus stimulus package. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and the Senate GOP have come to a “fundamental agreement,” a top negotiator said Thursday, but they are trying to finalize the text of the bill. 

Mnuchin and White House chief of staff Mark Meadows made a rare appearance on Capitol Hill on Saturday as part of negotiations on the GOP proposal. The administration officials were there to meet with Senate staff, an unusual move considering lawmakers were not present. 

The Senate bill is purported to be released on Monday, as the beefed-up unemployment insurance and other critical provisions included in the March CARES Act are set to expire Friday.

Moore also criticized Pelosi over the $3 trillion relief bill passed by the House in May, slamming the legislation as “liberal special interest group funding.”

The House bill, passed in mid-May, includes billions for testing, personal protective equipment and medical equipment as well as additional stimulus checks for Americans. A third of the funding would go to state and local governments whose budgets have been depleted while fighting the coronavirus. 

John Catsimatidis is an investor in The Hill.