President-elect Joe Biden is set to meet Friday with Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) in Delaware, according to a Biden transition official.
The gathering, confirmed by sources close to Pelosi and Schumer and later announced on Biden’s public schedule, will be the first in-person meeting between the president-elect and the Democratic congressional leaders since the election.
The summit comes as the transition process between Biden’s team and the Trump administration has been hampered by the General Services Administration’s (GSA) delay in recognizing Biden as the winner after Nov. 3, despite him leading by tens of thousands of votes in key battleground states.
Because the GSA has declined to ascertain Biden as the winner, he cannot access government officials or national security briefings.
Biden said Wednesday that the delay is preventing his team from getting needed information about the nation’s coronavirus response efforts, including how future vaccines will be distributed.
The former vice president has been in contact with Schumer and Pelosi over the next potential COVID-19 relief measure, which has been stalled in talks with Republican leaders despite a rapid rise in cases across the country.
Schumer said on Thursday, however, that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has agreed to start negotiations back up with Democrats.
“Last night, they’ve agreed to sit down and the staffs are going to sit down today or tomorrow to try to begin to see if we can get a real good COVID relief bill,” Schumer said during a press conference.
—Jordain Carney and Scott Wong contributed to this report. Updated at 4:18 p.m.