OnPolitics: I mean, anything is possible.

Monday, October 19

OnPolitics: COVID financial relief still on the table, kind of

Lawmakers seem to still be working towards some kind of COVID relief with the election literally days away.

The clock is ticking for Democrats and Republicans to reach a COVID-19 relief deal after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi set a Tuesday deadline for both sides to come together to restore urgently needed benefits before Election Day.

Both sides are struggling to cut a deal weeks before the election. Democrats and Republicans are hundreds of billions of dollars apart in their proposals and unable to resolve major policy differences on COVID-19 testing, child tax credit provisions and funding for state and local governments.

Congress passed a comprehensive aid package in March, and many of its provisions have lapsed. The federal boost to unemployment benefits ran out in July, airline assistance expired in October, and Americans weathering an economic recession eagerly await another round of relief checks.

Trump continues to target Fauci

President Donald Trump blasted Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government's top infectious disease expert, as a "disaster" on Monday, a day after Fauci said in an interview that it came as no shock to him when the president tested positive for COVID-19 because Trump regularly eschewed the use of masks "as a statement of strength."

During a conference call with his campaign staff on Monday, Trump said Fauci drops a "bomb" every time he goes on television, but it would be "a bigger bomb if you fire him. This guy's a disaster."

What else is going on?

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•	Facing fire from the right and left, Sen. Collins beckons voters to political center
•	Supreme Court will decide future of President Trump's border wall with Mexico
•	Polls: Trump roars back in Florida, Biden gains in Georgia
•	Trump tries to tamp down Republican dissent, lashes out at GOP Sen. Ben Sasse