Trump urges Republicans to speed up the Supreme Court confirmation process so they can focus on approving a stimulus package
- President Donald Trump on Monday urged Republicans to confirm his Supreme Court quickly so they could also pass a stimulus package.
- "Personally, I would pull back, approve, and go for STIMULUS for the people!!" he said in a tweet.
- The Trump administration on Friday offered a $1.8 trillion stimulus package to Democrats, but both parties panned it.
- Some Senate Republicans have been reluctant to back additional relief spending that could increase the national debt, and odds are very slim that Congress will approve a stimulus package before the election.
President Donald Trump on Monday called on Republicans to skip days of hearings and quickly confirm his Supreme Court nominee, Judge Amy Coney Barrett, so they could work on approving a stimulus package.
"The Republicans are giving the Democrats a great deal of time, which is not mandated, to make their self serving statements relative to our great new future Supreme Court Justice," he wrote on Twitter.
"Personally, I would pull back, approve, and go for STIMULUS for the people!!" he added.
He reiterated his call in another tweet later on Monday.
"Republicans should be strongly focused on completing a wonderful stimulus package for the American People!" he said.
The Senate Judiciary Committee started confirmation hearings on Monday for Barrett. If she is confirmed toward the end of October, Barrett would lock in a 6-3 conservative majority on the Supreme Court.
Democrats have criticized the short confirmation timetable and argued that it would come at the expense of passing another federal rescue package to pump hundreds of billions of dollars into the economy and aid jobless Americans and businesses in the short term.
"We shouldn't be spending time on this when we are doing absolutely nothing to pass a much-needed COVID bill," Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont said in opening remarks on Monday.
During a campaign appearance in Ohio, Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden assailed Republicans for prioritizing Barrett's confirmation over economic aid to people, businesses, and jurisdictions.
"In the middle of this pandemic, why do the Republicans have the time to hold a hearing on the Supreme Court instead of providing the significant economic need to localities?" Biden said, referring to aid to cash-strapped state and local governments.
The Trump administration on Friday increased its stimulus-package offer to $1.8 trillion, its largest yet during a turbulent stretch of negotiations with Democrats. The president revived the talks after abruptly ending them last week.
But Democrats and Senate Republicans blasted the proposal. Republicans said the price tag was too high and criticized several measures. And in a letter to colleagues on Sunday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called it "insufficient" and laid out concerns about health funding and testing.
Pelosi has also taken issue with the administration's plans for federal funding for state and local aid, unemployment insurance, and tax credits for families and people with lower incomes.
The administration on Sunday called on Congress to repurpose roughly $130 billion in unspent funding from the Paycheck Protection Program to aid small businesses. But Democrats have long rejected Republicans' efforts to address the public health and economic crises through individual bills.
The legislative window for action on a coronavirus relief bill is quickly closing, with three weeks until Election Day. Negotiations on an economic-aid package have mostly involved Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, with no input from Senate Republicans, some of whom are critical of supporting relief spending that would increase the national debt.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said last week that passing an aid package before the election was unlikely.