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- Pelosi issued a blistering statement on Tuesday after Trump broke off stimulus talks with Democrats, saying “the White House is in complete disarray.”
- “President Trump showed his true colors: putting himself first at the expense of the country, with the full complicity of the GOP Members of Congress,” she said.
- Other Democrats called Trump’s move an “irrational, reckless, and destructive act” that could set back a shaky economic recovery.
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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tore into President Donald Trump’s move to end stimulus talks on Tuesday, saying the White House is in “complete disarray.”
“President Trump showed his true colors: putting himself first at the expense of the country, with the full complicity of the GOP Members of Congress,” she said in a statement.
The speaker said that by pulling the plug on negotiations, Trump had indicated he was “unwilling to crush the virus.”
“He shows his contempt for science, his disdain for our heroes… and he refuses to put money in workers’ pockets, unless his name is printed on the check,” she said.
Pelosi went on: “Clearly, the White House is in complete disarray.”
The blistering statement came shortly after Trump announced on Twitter that he was ordering his negotiators to end all stimulus talks until after the election. Democrats and the White House were $700 billion apart in their coronavirus aid proposals, but both sides appeared to be making progress.
Talks were ongoing between Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Pelosi for nearly a week and a half since late September. They had restarted after they fell apart in early August amid fierce disagreements over the amount of spending needed to prop up the economy.
Other Democrats were also critical of Trump. Rep. Don Beyer of Virginia, the top Democrat on the Joint Economic Committee, said the economy had displayed signs of weakening in the latest jobs report.
“It is hard to comprehend such an irrational, reckless, and destructive act,” he said in a statement.
Most Republicans are reluctant to back a stimulus deal with a significant price tag. But some GOP lawmakers called on Trump to reconsider his approach.
Rep. John Katko of New York — a member of a bipartisan group that unveiled a $1.5 trillion spending package in a last-ditch effort to broker a compromise — said that “with lives at stake, we cannot afford to stop negotiations on a relief package.”
“I strongly urge the President to rethink this move,” he said on Twitter.
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