Tuesday on PBS’s “NewsHour,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said President Donald Trump and Republican lawmakers did not “really accepted the gravity of the situation,” referring to the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic.
Host Judy Woodruff asked, “To give us a sense of where things stand, I’m joined by the Democrats’ top negotiator. She is the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi. Madam Speaker, welcome back to the Newshour. In brief, where do things stand? We just heard Secretary Mnuchin is saying you’re aiming for a deal this week. What does it look like from your perspective?
Pelosi said, “Well, Leader Schumer and I said it earlier at our availability with the press, we all have agreed that we need to have an agreement. We have to have an agreement, though, that faces the reality of the situation. We do believe that the White House has not really accepted the gravity of the situation, and that’s why they’re thinking in smaller ways than they need to.
She continued, “We have a situation where we’re trying to save the lives, the livelihood and the life of our democracy. We are making some progress. We are understanding each other better, exchanging paper to see in writing. Chuck Schumer and I – Leader Schumer and I are legislators for many years. We understand when we have a challenge to face, and we want to have a legislative solution. We have to know what we’re talking about; that’s why we have to be precise about what we say and the impact it has. And really, we have a different point of view than the Republicans on this.”
When asked about a possible compromise, Pelosi said, “There’s no in-between. The fact is that since we passed our bill, which was eleven weeks ago tomorrow, 3.3 million more people have gone on to the infected list. Of those infected, 70,000 more people have died, and the Republicans said they were going to push the pause button, and they did. And then last week, they came up with some piecemeal thing.”
She added, “Their piecemeal, meager approach that doesn’t even recognize the gravity of the situation. If they had recognized it, we wouldn’t be in the situation we’re in. Since our bill passed eleven weeks ago tomorrow, 3.3 million people, again, have gone on to the list of those infected, 70 thousand more have died. That didn’t have to happen.”
