As crisis deepens, Congressional rescue deal teeters

WASHINGTON (AP) — Top-level negotiations between Congress and the White House teetered Sunday on a ballooning nearly $1.4 trillion economic rescue package, as the coronavirus crisis deepened and President Donald Trump called for a deal to steady a shuttered nation.

Treasury Secretary Mnuchin indicated an agreement was within reach, but congressional Republican and Democratic leaders said there was no deal yet after an hour-long meeting at the otherwise empty U.S. Capitol.

With a population on edge, societal norms rewritten and financial markets shell shocked, all sides were hoping for an agreement that would provide some relief against the pandemic's twin health and economic crises, now believed likely to stretch for several months.

“We’re continuing to talk,” said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, while House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Democrats would be putting forward their own draft bill.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell vowed the Senate would press ahead Sunday with a planned procedural vote as negotiations continue. “At some point here, we’ll have to stop,” he warned. He wants passage of the package by Monday.

That was a break from the optimism voiced by Mnuchin just hours earlier.

“It will get done," he said on “Fox News Sunday, saying the plan was meant to prop up the nation's weakened economy for the next 10 to 12 weeks.

“I think the president has every expectation that this is going to look a lot better four or eight weeks from now,” Mnuchin said. “If for any reason, 10 weeks from now with this virus we haven’t won this, we’ll go back to Congress again.”

Yet while the congressional leaders worked to send help, alarms were being sounded from coast to coast about the wave of coronavirus cases about to crash onto the...