House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., is increasingly under fire for her refusal to budge in coronavirus relief negotiations.
And even CNN is calling her out.
“The White House has moved closer to your position on lots of issues,” CNN’s Jake Tapper said during an interview Sunday.
He started to list the proposals of Trump’s negotiators rejected by Pelosi: “Coronavirus testing, contact tracing strategy, unemployment benefits, local government…”
“No, no. Excuse me. They haven’t yet!” Pelosi said, interrupting Tapper. “That’s what we’re waiting for. We’re waiting for the final, ‘Yes!’”
“Well, they said they would. You’re just waiting to see that on paper?” Tapper asked.
“They keep moving the goalposts,” Pelosi said, without evidence.
“Let’s be hopeful. We’re nine days before an election. We’re trying to unify a country – one way to do it is to come together and crush the virus so that we can open our economy, open our schools, and feed our people,” she said.
“It seems like [the Trump administration] keeps getting closer and closer – I get that you’re waiting for it to be put on paper. It just seems like you’re winning. That’s what it seems like to me,” Tapper said. “It seems like you could take ‘yes’ for an answer.”
Pelosi claimed that the White House negotiators would reach a deal with her – and then would back out.
“So, over 23 million Americans are on unemployment benefits, as you know,” Tapper said. “One study showed the poverty level is higher now than in the whole pandemic. Three Democratic governors in the Midwest … wrote to you, President Trump, and other congressional leaders saying … ‘We implore you to put differences aside and agree to another, much-need COVID-19 relief bill.’”
“Congressman Max Rose said this week that the Democratic Party needs to learn how to declare victory and go home,” he continued.
“You’re getting a lot of messages from Democrats saying, ‘This is good enough, we need to say yes.’”
Pelosi dismissed that criticism.
“Welcome to my world – that’s not a lot of messages, though I have respect for each and every one of them,” she said. Pelosi said any coronavirus relief bill must include rules for how to combat the pandemic on a national level. “If not, we’re just giving money to the president to spend any way he wants. And that has not been [helpful] in crushing the virus.”
“We all want an agreement. No one wants it more than House Democrats,” Pelosi continued. “We represent these people. We have been fighting for food for the hungry, rent assistance for those that may be evicted. But most importantly … we have to stop the spread of the virus!”
CNN's @JakeTapper calls out @SpeakerPelosi for refusing to pass a Covid relief bill despite the GOP caving: "It seems like you could take yes for an answer" pic.twitter.com/QUs2aAEiU9
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) October 25, 2020
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