WASHINGTON -- Senate Republicans are growing frustrated with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin as he makes what they see as unacceptable compromises in his quest for a stimulus deal with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, people familiar with the talks said Thursday.
Mnuchin has already committed to a top-line figure of around $1.9 trillion, too high for many Senate Republicans. This includes at least $300 billion for state and local aid, a nonstarter for many in the GOP.
The treasury secretary is also giving ground on multiple specific policy issues, for example reducing payments that Republicans wanted to go to farmers so that some of the money would go for food boxes instead, according to two people involved in the talks who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the developments. He has left open the possibility of allowing even more money to flow to states and localities through Community Development Block Grants sought by Democrats.
"He negotiates harder with his own side than he does with her [Pelosi]. Folks over here are sick of it," said one Senate GOP aide, who added that Republicans were "reaching boiling point with him" as Mnuchin "gives and gives and gives and gets nothing in return."
[CORONAVIRUS: Click here for our complete coverage » arkansasonline.com/coronavirus]
Another Senate GOP aide said: "Fair to say the feeling is he's giving away the store. No one is surprised, but yes frustrated. The idea that our conference is going to go along with whatever bad deal he cuts with Pelosi is completely unrealistic."
A spokesperson for Mnuchin had no immediate comment.
The complaints come as Pelosi, D-Calif., voices optimism about her ongoing talks with Mnuchin, making clear that she believes she has leverage because President Donald Trump wants a big new deal with less than two weeks remaining until the election.
"The president wants a bill. The president wants a bill. And so that's part of the opportunity that we have," Pelosi told reporters Thursday.
She said she and Mnuchin had just about come to terms on a national coronavirus testing strategy that Democrats have been pushing. But Pelosi acknowledged that other major issues were still unsettled, including aid to state and local governments and liability protections for businesses sought by Republicans.
Pelosi has expressed desire to pass a bill before the election, but made clear Thursday that she was not wedded to that timeline if she does not get what she wants.
[Video not showing up above? Click here to view » https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wK-M8L8HZHU]
"We wouldn't take less of a bill to get it sooner," Pelosi said. "We want the best bill."
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., disclosed earlier this week that he had advised the White House against making a preelection deal with Pelosi, partly because it could interfere with the Senate's confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court.
The majority leader held a conference call with Mnuchin and White House chief of staff Mark Meadows a couple weeks ago in which GOP senators vented their opposition to some of the elements Mnuchin and Pelosi were discussing, including expanding Affordable Care Act tax credits and sending stimulus checks to people who are illegally in the country.
Instead of the big new spending bill the president wants, McConnell tried to advance a much-smaller, approximately $500 billion bill on the Senate floor Wednesday, but Democrats blocked it. The McConnell bill contained money for schools, health care systems, the unemployed and more, but omitted a new round of $1,200 checks to individuals -- a priority for Trump.
Pelosi said Thursday that Senate GOP opposition to what she and Mnuchin are working on is not her problem. "I can't answer for the disarray on the other side. It's up to him [Trump] to deliver what can happen on the Senate side."
Senate Republican Whip John Thune, R-S.D., has said publicly it would be difficult to get 13 Senate Republicans to support a deal along the lines of what Pelosi and Mnuchin are discussing. That's the bare minimum needed to pass such legislation if all Democrats voted in favor.
Privately, several Senate GOP aides said getting 13 GOP votes for a big bill brokered by Pelosi and Mnuchin simply could not happen.
"There are not 13 votes for this pile of crap Mnuchin is capitulating on," said a third Senate GOP aide familiar with the discussions.
McConnell has said that if Pelosi and Mnuchin get a deal and it passes the House with Trump's support, he would bring it up for a vote in the Senate -- but has not said when he would do so.
On Wednesday evening, Trump seemed to write the whole effort off in a pair of Twitter posts in which he lamented, "Just don't see any way Nancy Pelosi and Cryin' Chuck Schumer will be willing to do what is right," referring to the Senate minority leader.