Trump calls for pause on coronavirus stimulus talks until after the election

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President Trump on Tuesday said he has instructed Republicans to pause negotiations on a coronavirus stimulus package until after the election, instructing Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., to focus “full-time” on getting his nominee to fill the vacant seat on the U.S. Supreme Court approved.

Trump said in a Twitter post that negotiations would resume after the election, at which time a bill would be passed to support small businesses and hardworking Americans.

He also accused House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., of pushing for a $2.4 trillion package that would act as a bailout to “poorly run, high crime, Democrat States.”

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U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Pelosi spoke on Tuesday, Pelosi’s chief of staff said on Twitter, where Mnuchin is said to have confirmed that the president had walked away from discussions.

As previously reported by FOX Business, House Democrats passed a $2.2 trillion revised HEROES Act last week, in a largely symbolic move because Mnuchin said that Republicans would not approve a $2.2 trillion package.

Mnuchin noted that President Trump instructed Republicans to come up from their original negotiating point of $1 trillion – and the Treasury Secretary suggested that the number being discussed was somewhere in the “neighborhood” of $1.5 trillion.

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On Tuesday, Trump said Republicans were willing to agree to a $1.6 trillion bill.

Democrats had originally proposed the $3 trillion HEROES Act in May, which was approved by the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives without Republican support.

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