White House, Democrats Hold Talks On Deal As $600 Unemployment Benefit Expires
HILL: Crucial talks are under way right now on Capitol Hill, lawmakers trying to come to an agreement on the next Coronavirus relief package. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin are meeting today to hopefully agree on some sort of a plan. Overnight, that $600 federal unemployment benefit expired leaving millions of Americans wondering how they may be able to make ends meet. Just moments ago, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Speaker Pelosi talked about the negotiations over the last couple of hours. Take a listen.</s>SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): --that a million people are without food, you don't say let's compromise and give half a million people food. If there are a million people, a million small businesses hurting you don't compromise and say we're only going to help half of them. But on the other hand, we had really - it was the best discussions we've had so far. And I'd call it progress but a ways to go. Is that fair?</s>REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: That's good.</s>CHUMER: OK.</s>PELOSI: But the fact is this week for the 19th straight week, over a million Americans filed claims for unemployment insurance. Millions of people are food insecure in our country. Millions are on the verge of eviction. People need resources in order to meet the needs of their families. So it's very important as we come to - this is not a usual discussion because the urgency is so great health wise, financial health wise and again, the health of our democracy because our elections will be affected by the Coronavirus and we must address that.</s>CHUMER: Thank you, everybody.</s>PELOSI: Thank you.</s>HILL: CNN's Lauren Fox is on Capitol Hill. So fairly positive, I would say. What we were hearing there. But is it your sense there's any real movement happening behind the scenes?</s>LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER: Well Erica, I think the top line here is after three hours of negotiations, there still is not a deal to extend those unemployment benefits that, like you said, millions of Americans have been counting on. So I know that lawmakers are going to meet again on Monday. The hope is that they can continue moving closer. What you heard there was Chuck Schumer saying look, these are the most productive talks we've had. And that's significant. Because remember last week they continued to have these discussions, and every time they would come out of these meetings they'd essentially say the exact same thing. They didn't feel like the White House was serious. The White House would say they didn't feel like Democrats really wanted a deal. You are seeing there that there's a little bit different posturing happening and I think that that's still significant if we're reading the tea leaves. But look, the bottom line is that Democrats want a broad deal. They want to ensure that any discussion that they have includes not just an extension of unemployment benefits.</s>FOX: But also an extension of other key provisions, including small business programs, including state and local funding. Those are the items that they care about. There are lots of sticking points here. And remember Republicans aren't even all on the same page. The White House is negotiating directly with Democrats. You know who is not in the room is Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senate Republicans. They are still deeply divided over how to address this crisis with many fiscal Republicans arguing they don't even think it's not time for another stimulus deal at all. They are arguing that there is still unspent money and that's what should be re-appropriated to finance the next stimulus bill. So you are getting a sense here that, yes, they are moving closer, but there are still so many disagreements, Erica.</s>HILL: Yes, still seems like there is a long way to go. Meanwhile, tens of millions of Americans are waiting and need answers and help. Lauren, thank you. A new study about children and Coronavirus more than 40 percent of kids at one overnight camp in Georgia tested positive for Coronavirus. So what could that mean? What could we learn from that as districts and states around the country put together their plans to reopen schools?