After Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi held a scheduled phone call this after to try to prioritize issues related to the next coronavirus relief bill, President Trump declared to the media that a deal is “not going to happen,” the Washington Post reports.

Trump’s statement seemed to subvert the work his Cabinet secretary put forth to get Democrats to the negotiations table.  Democrats passed a comprehensive aid package in May that would provide financial aid to the unemployed, small business and state and local governments, as well as ensuring election security and protection for the Postal Service.

The republicans in the Senate attempted to pass a one trillion dollar bill that limited federal subsidies for the unemployed and included a liability protection for employers whose workers contract the coronavirus.

“The bill’s not going to happen because they don’t even want to talk about it, because we can’t give them the kind of ridiculous things that they want that have nothing to do with the China virus,” Trump said, even though the two sides talked in the afternoon. 

While Democrats have expressed a willingness to shave their aid bill from a $3.5 trillion price tag to about $2.5 trillion, the White House has refused to accept any changes to their plan.

Instead, Trump signed an executive order and three memos which he claimed would provide $400 additional payments per week to the unemployed and put a moratorium on evictions.  Upon review, however, pundits note that the memos simply agencies to review programs, and the unemployment benefits require states to pick up 25% of the cost.

Additionally, Trump said he would defer federal payroll taxes, which would require employers and workers to remit payment at the end of the year.  Trump claimed that he would permanent eliminate payroll taxes if he is reelected, but that would defund Social Security and Medicare.