How Trump could use Amy Coney Barrett as leverage over Mitch McConnell

Trump could hold up her confirmation to get what he wants out of the Senate majority leader

Trump and Amy Coney Barrett
(Image credit: OLIVIER DOULIERY/AFP via Getty Images)

President Trump wants a deal. Mitch McConnell won't let him have one.

Trump, down double digits in the polls less than three weeks before Election Day, has upped his offer in long-simmering COVID-19 stimulus talks to $1.8 trillion, and he had his surrogates tell the Sunday talk shows he could go higher. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who also wants a deal, is down to $2.2 trillion. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, Wall Street, and most mainstream economists agree a large jolt of government aid is the only prescription for preventing a drawn-out, slow economic recovery and even greater wreckage for U.S. businesses large and small.

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Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.