WASHINGTON (TIP): U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday, Oct 15  he was willing to support a comprehensive COVID-19 coronavirus relief package larger than $1.8 trillion to make a deal with Democrats and get a bill passed.

“I would,” he said during a telephone interview with Fox Business News. “Absolutely, I would. I would say more. I would go higher. Go big or go home.”

He went on to say that he had directed Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to make an offer over the $1.8 trillion package previously supported by the White House but said Mnuchin “hasn’t come home with the bacon.”

Trump said he would not accept “goodies” in the Democrats’ proposal.

House Democrats, led by Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), have been pushing for a $2.2 trillion package that would include funding for state and local governments, schools, and coronavirus testing and tracing, among other priorities.2

Republicans in the Senate support a $500 billion bill that would not offer a wide a range of measures. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said the upper chamber would be working on the bill next week.

REPUBLICANS

Democrats demanding a ‘wish list’

“(Democrats) say anything short of their multi-trillion-dollar wish list, jammed with non-COVID-related demands, is ‘piecemeal’ and not worth doing,” McConnell said in a statement. “Speaker Pelosi frequently says she feels ‘nothing’ is better than ‘something.’ And she has worked hard to ensure that nothing is what American families get.”

DEMOCRATS

Republicans have the wrong priorities

“We want to have an agreement. Yet Republicans refuse to ensure that such an agreement puts #FamiliesFirst,” Pelosi said.

(Agencies)