WASHINGTON • United States President Donald Trump acknowledged on Tuesday that a coronavirus economic relief deal would likely come after the Nov 3 election, with the White House unable to bridge differences with fellow Republicans in the US Senate, as well as congressional Democrats.
"After the election, we'll get the best stimulus package you've ever seen," Mr Trump told reporters at the White House, before leaving on a campaign trip.
Mr Trump and House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi have traded blame for the impasse over another large stimulus package worth around US$2 trillion (S$2.7 trillion) to help Americans weather the pandemic.
"We'll always talk about it because our people should get it, the stimulus, but Nancy Pelosi is only interested in bailing out badly run, crime-ridden Democrat cities and states," Mr Trump said.
Mrs Pelosi, in turn, pointed to the assertion by Mr Trump's chief of staff Mark Meadows on Sunday that the administration was not going to control the pandemic.
"The White House and (Senate Majority Leader) Mitch McConnell have resisted, and on Sunday, Mark Meadows told us why," she said, in a letter to Democratic House members.
"The President's words only have meaning if he can get Mitch McConnell to take his hand off the pause button," Mrs Pelosi wrote.
Mrs Pelosi, the top elected Democrat, led the House to pass a US$3 trillion coronavirus relief Bill in May, but Republicans who control the Senate baulked at another large Bill.
They pushed a much smaller measure, which failed, then left Washington after confirming Mr Trump's nominee, Ms Amy Coney Barrett, to the Supreme Court.
The White House has said aid to state and local governments has been the main sticking point in the talks, while Democrats also cited the lack of a national coronavirus testing plan.
Infections are surging again in the US and 36 out of 50 states have seen an increase for at least two weeks in a row, according to a Reuters analysis.
Deaths have also more than doubled in seven states.
Outbreaks in Midwestern states have driven the most recent surge in virus cases.
They are rising in Michigan, Illinois and Iowa, but have levelled off or fallen in Nebraska, Wisconsin and Minnesota.
At a rally in Omaha, Nebraska, on Tuesday night, Mr Trump acknowledged that coronavirus cases are rising in the Midwest but reassured his supporters that "they will go down very quickly".
He accused the news media of hyping the pandemic in order to damage him politically, and said, "you won't be hearing that much" about it the day after election day.
REUTERS, BLOOMBERG
