(Bloomberg) -- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she’s willing to negotiate on some Democratic priorities for a stimulus to include aid for industries such as airlines and restaurants that are continuing to struggle amid the coronavirus pandemic.Pelosi said in a Bloomberg Television interview Friday that she’s not backing away from the $2.2. trillion package that she and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer proposed before negotiations with the White House broke off last month.
But since the House passed its stimulus bill in May, “other issues have emerged” as the virus has continued to disrupt lives and businesses that need to be addressed in any new plan, Pelosi said.She didn’t give any specifics about how much aid should go to airlines and other businesses, like restaurants, or what other priorities might have to be dropped or scaled back.
Republicans have rejected the $2.2 trillion Democratic plan, but President Donald Trump has signaled that he could support a bigger stimulus package than the $1.1 trillion proposal his administration had previously backed.
”It will get done when they come to the table,” Pelosi said of Republicans. “The ball is in their court.”
Pelosi also said the standoff on the stimulus won’t interfere with passage of a stopgap funding bill to keep the government operating after the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30. She said the House was getting ready to release legislation Friday, giving both chambers of Congress enough time to act before the deadline.
She said the two parties are still negotiating the duration of the stopgap funding, which is needed because work still isn’t completed on full funding legislation.
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