thank you for joining us. we will see c-span has unfiltered coverage of congress, the white house, the supreme court, and public policy events. you can watch all public affairs programming on television, online, or visit on our free radio app. part of the national conversation through "washington journal," or through our social media feeds. c-span. created by america's television companies as a public service and brought to you today by your television provider. adjourned for the week without passing another coronavirus relief bill, after negotiations between congressional leaders and the white house reached a stalemate.

mitch mcconnell talked about it on the senate floor. was mcconnell: the senate supposed to spend this week finalizing another bipartisan rescue package for the american people. laid-off workers needed more federal assistance to weather the storm. small businesses needed more support to make payroll. schools and families need more funding, tools, and certainty with reopening dates fast approaching. nurses, and health care workers need more backup as they hold the line against this disease. and we all need more gas for the race toward more testing, better treatment, and a vaccine that will finish the fight. i hope that the speaker of the

house and the democratic leader would put aside their ideological demands, with no relation to this pandemic, and proudly let congress legislate. unfortunately, the democrats have continued to let working families down. they are rejecting anymore relief for anyone unless they get a flood of demands with no relationship to covid-19. than two weekse since senate republicans put out a trillion dollar plan to help againstreopen, recover this virus. republicans did the same thing back in march. we set up the same process that built the unanimous cares act in out aer of days, laid strong marker built by our committees, catered to real fact-based needs of our

nation, and then invited the democrats to negotiate. we want another round of direct cash payments to american families. we want $175 billion to help schools and universities safely reopen, and billions more to help working parents with childcare. we want to create new incentives for retaining and rehiring american workers, and for businesses to improve workplace equity. we want to create the smart legal protections that small businesses and university presidents were pleading for, so that they can reopen safely for students and workers without paying a ransom to the trial lawyers. the strong policies we proposed. these are the policies our nation actually needs. we want to take second runs at the best and most successful parts of the bipartisan cares in bold new steps

for this phase of our nation's battle. i have set from the outset that republicans had no illusion that our marker would become law. it was never any question that bipartisan compromise would be needed to get an outcome. ini expected that just like march, democratic ranking members would sit down with our chairman, bring some of their own serious ideas to the table, and work together to build a bipartisan bill. that happened back then. instead, the country got something else entirely. instead of working with our serious framework, the speaker of the house and senate democratic leaders spent weeks working on a completely unrealistic, far-left proposal that even their own members mocked as a go nowhere messaging stunt. instead of letting their committees and members discuss

substantive issues across the aisle, they said nobody could negotiate about them. and instead of staying focused on the real needs of our nation, these two democratic leaders have held talks hostage for covidnow over nine related ideological items which the political left has wanted since well before the virus hit our shores. you know what i'm talking about, mr. president. by now, the whole country knows when i'm talking about, the absurd issues which the democrats have turned into sticking points. the bizarre, parochial, left-wing favors that democrats have put ahead of the health and working families' needs right now, like the massive tax cuts for the highest errors in the somes, an idea that even progressive, economists have said is not a good idea. a trillion dollars slush fund for state and local governments the have only spent 25% of

billions that we sent them back in march, totally out of proportion to any estimate of urgent pandemic shortfalls. the socialist insistence on the federal government paying people than essentialk workers are when they are on the job. table in kitchen america and put these bizarre demands up against the trillion dollars of real, practical relief that republicans wanted to get out the door weeks ago. no family in middle america is saying thank goodness the democrats are blocking cash payments to me, money for my kids' schools, and money for vaccines until man had billion heirs get a -- manhattan billionaires get a tax cut.

>> no americans are saying that. this,es aren't saying outside of speaker pelosi and leader schumer, even washington democrats are not saying this. while the press tries it's hardest to praise speaker pelosi for "playing hardball." they say they are frustrated and angry that relief is being held up over what they themselves a "politicals wish list." the heroes act went too far, another quote. the speakers own members are not buying their political spend.

they want what american families everywhere want. we need to get an outcome. the secretary of the treasury and the white house chief of , theyhave given ground worked to find commonality, but the democrats are barely even pretending to negotiate. barely even pretending. is speaker's latest spin that it is up to -- that it is some heroic sacrifice to lower up 3.5and for a made trillion dollar marker that was never going to become law to an equally made up $2.5 trillion marker. she calls this meeting in the middle? mr. president, that's not negotiating. that's throwing spaghetti at the wall to see what sticks.

people that have serious policy proposals that are fitted to actual needs cannot reasonably knock off a trillion here and add a trillion there. heck, by the speakers logic, they should have just opened what their entire $93 trillion green new deal. then, they could have blamed the president for not meeting them halfway at a cut right bargain $47 trillion. come on, mr. president. the speaker and leader have not conceded anything at all. they have not budged on their absurd demands. they just moved the expiration date a few weeks on the exact same crazy wish list so the -tag comes down without moving an inch on the merits. they refuse republicans' offers to pass everything that we can agree on.

the administration has said, let's pass things we can agree on right now. theblicans don't think disputed issues should hold up the most important aid for working families. but the answer so far from the democratic leadership is no. the partisan games continue, and so the nation's pain continues as well. laid-off workers and kids and parents and doctors and nurses are waiting for help. our people are waiting for help. republicans have been at the table for weeks. we just need seriousness on the others. -- other side. american families' livelihoods are at stake. american lives are at stake. democrats must rerun their political calculations and

finally, finally let congress act. ♪ >> house speaker nancy pelosi also addressed the stalled negotiations on another relief no. withposted on twitter, " families nationwide struggling to make ends meet and children going hungry, republicans are playing politics and refusing to put families first. it's time to get serious, meet us halfway and come back to the negotiating table. >> during the summer months, reach out to your elected c-span's with congressional directory, which contains all the contact information you need to stay in touch with members of congress, federal agencies, and state governors. order your copy online today at c-span store.org. >> after months of delay, the president of afghanistan announced his government would release about 400 prisoners, including some who are members of the taliban. it's part of an effort to

continue direct negotiations with the taliban. former u.s. ambassador james cunningham spoke to president ghani. during their interview, they discussed relations with neighboring countries and afghanistan's role in combating terrorism. presidentou to