White House Increases Fiscal-Stimulus Offer to $1.8 Trillion

The White House is increasing its fiscal-stimulus offer to congressional Democrats up to $1.8 trillion, according to two people familiar with the matter.

President Donald Trump has approved a revised economic stimulus offer, his top economic adviser said -- though its not clear that Congress would approve the new proposal.

“The president has approved a revised package. He would like to do a deal,” Larry Kudlow said Friday on Fox Business. “It will be relatively broad-based but I cant go through details.”

Stocks jumped after Kudlows remarks, with the S&P 500 Index up 0.9% as of 11:56 a.m. New York time. They had tumbled on Tuesday in the wake of Trump pulling his negotiators, saying that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had been negotiating in bad faith.

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Kudlow said that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin would be discussing the plan with Pelosi later Friday afternoon.

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“We have time set aside to speak today. We are anticipating some answers to questions we have, and we respond to some of the questions they have,” Pelosi said during an appearance on MSNBC earlier.

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“The devil and the angels are in the details,” she said. “So part of it is about money. And part of it is about policy.”

House Democrats passed a $2.2 trillion plan last week, while the White House had previously favored $1.6 trillion.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell earlier Friday indicated that political partisanship in the run-up to the Nov. 3 election would inhibit a deal in the next three weeks.