White House pushes for narrow coronavirus aid; Pelosi blasts GOP delay

Republicans argue that unemployment assistance has made many people better off financially than they were before the pandemic and were disinclined to return to their jobs therefore

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Sunday assailed Republican disarray over a new pandemic relief package as the White House suggested a narrower effort might be necessary, at least for now.

The California Democrat panned the Trump administration's desire to trim an expiring temporary federal unemployment benefit from $600 weekly to about 70 per cent of pre-pandemic wages.

The reason we had $600 was its simplicity, she said from the Capitol.

The administration's chief negotiators White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin were returning to the Capitol later Sunday to put what Meadows described as final