Trump pushes for new coronavirus stimulus deal: ‘GET IT DONE’

President Trump pressed lawmakers and members of the administration to reach an agreement on a new coronavirus stimulus package as he receives treatment for COVID-19.

“OUR GREAT USA WANTS & NEEDS STIMULUS. WORK TOGETHER AND GET IT DONE. Thank you!” he tweeted from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center Saturday. 

OUR GREAT USA WANTS & NEEDS STIMULUS. WORK TOGETHER AND GET IT DONE. Thank you!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 3, 2020

The president’s push for a deal comes as his own diagnosis has sparked new pressure for Washington to pass a package to help an economy still in the throes of the fiscal fallout from the pandemic.

Following Trump’s positive diagnosis, congressional leadership weighed in on the possibility of another stimulus bill. 

“This kind of changes the dynamic because here they see the reality of what we have been saying all along: This is a vicious virus, and it spreads,” Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said on MSNBC on Friday.

“I’m trying to figure out here whether I should predict another bill quickly or not. But the talks have speeded up in the last couple of days,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said during an event in Kentucky. “I think we’re closer to getting an outcome.” 

Trump’s diagnosis shocked Washington and jolted Democratic and Republican leadership that had been at loggerheads over the terms of another stimulus package.

House Democrats on Thursday passed a $2.2 trillion stimulus bill that was rejected by every Republican and 18 moderate Democrats. Moderate Democrats vented frustration that the legislation had no chance of being passed by the GOP-controlled Senate. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, meanwhile, has countered with a $1.6 trillion proposal, though that total may still be too high for the Senate GOP. 

Pelosi and Mnuchin have revived long-stalled negotiations and have held a number of conversations throughout the week, though they have yet to close the $600 billion chasm between them.