Coronavirus stimulus bill: Democrats and Republicans appear close to $2tn deal

The US Senate and the Treasury appeared to be close to a deal over a coronavirus stimulus bill on Tuesday, even as Donald Trump signaled his wish to reopen the economy and continued to attack the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, over her own stimulus proposal.

US stocks rebounded more than 11% in the afternoon in their best such showing since 1933 on signs that lawmakers and the Trump administration are nearing a deal on a $2tn stimulus package aimed at curbing economic distress caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

The historic rally came a day after stocks recorded a record fall and Pelosi on Tuesday afternoon telling CNBC there is “real optimism” in Congress over a stimulus deal being reached.

“We think the bill has moved sufficiently to the side of workers,” she said.

The US treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin, had told reporters on Capitol Hill, just before midnight on Monday: “I think we’ve made a lot of progress. There’s still a couple of open issues, but I think we’re very hopeful that this can be closed out [on Tuesday].”

Mnuchin said he and the Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer, had consulted the president and Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell on the details of the deal, which is believed to secure around $2tn in aid for workers and businesses.

But the president took aim at Pelosi, who had introduced House Democrats’ own $2.5tn stimulus plan overnight in a bid to shape negotiations. In a late-night tweet, Trump accused Pelosi of seeking to derail a Republican-sponsored Senate bill.

Republicans criticized Pelosi’s rival bill as a wishlist, saying it included politically charged spending add-ons and regulations on federal elections, minimum wage, union regulations and climate change. Democrats made similar charges about the Republican Senate bill.

Trump tweeted: “Republicans had a deal until Nancy Pelosi rode into town from her extended vacation. The Democrats want the Virus to win? They are asking for things that have nothing to do with our great workers or companies. They want Open Borders & Green New Deal. Republicans shouldn’t agree!”

The president returned to the attack on Tuesday morning. He tweeted: “This is not about the ridiculous Green New Deal. It is about putting our great workers and companies BACK TO WORK!” He reiterated the message in a town hall-style live Q&A on Fox News on Tuesday afternoon.

At the same time, Trump was under fire from health experts for signaling in a lengthy press conference on Monday night that he could soon re-open the country for business. The US is just over one week into a 15-day self-quarantine and social-distancing initiative aimed at slowing transmission of Covid-19.

Trump’s lack of commitment to following expert advice appears to be creating stress within the coronavirus taskforce. Dr Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has contradicted Trump at White House briefings and given interviews containing measured criticism of the president.

Fauci was notably absent from the podium on Monday.

Later on Monday night, a former Food and Drug Administration commissioner who served under Trump said opening America up for business too hastily could undo any progress that has been made to “flatten the curve” of infections and prevent the healthcare system from becoming overwhelmed.

Scott Gottlieb tweeted: “There’s a strong and understandable desire to return to better times and a functioning economy.

“But it should not be lost on anyone that there’s no such thing as a functioning economy and society so long as Covid-19 continues to spread uncontrolled in our biggest cities.”

On Tuesday, Trump tweeted that although “the world market for face masks and ventilators is crazy”, his administration was “helping the states to get equipment” and had “just got 400 Ventilators for [New York mayor] Bill de Blasio. Work beginning on 4 hospitals in New York! Millions of different type items coming!”

New York’ governor, Andrew Cuomo, said he communicated to the White House his state’s immediate need for 30,000 ventilators and other protective medical equipment and “there has been no response”.

Cuomo warned at a press conference on Tuesday morning that New York’s peak for the coronavirus crisis would be in the next 14 to 21 days and that other states should take heed.

He urged the Trump administration aggressively to use the Defense Production Act to activate private industry to help provide medical resources.

“I understand the federal government’s point that many companies have come forward and say we want to help,” Cuomo said. “If we don’t have the ventilators in 14 days it does us no good. The Federal Defense [Production] Act can actually help companies … Only the federal government has that power. And not to exercise that power is inexplicable to me.”

Cuomo also said that the number of cases are greater than other large states.

“New York has 25,000 cases. It has 10 times the problems that California has. It has 10 times the cases that Washington state has,” Cuomo said. “We need the federal help and we need the federal help now. What happens to New York is going to wind up happening to California and Washington state and Illinois. It is just happening to us first.”

Trump later blamed Cuomo for not ordering thousands of ventilators “two years ago”.