Mark Meadows is reportedly the bad cop of coronavirus relief negotiations

Negotiations for the next coronavirus relief bill have not been going well, to say the least, and each side is eager to blame the other for the breakdown.

But White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, who has been representing the Trump administration alongside Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, is emerging as a particularly thorny player in the saga, as The Washington Post reports Meadows is the one drawing a "hard line" as negotiations continue. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who is also leading talks, even reportedly calls Meadows "The Enforcer." Publicly, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) has said Meadows' views "are quite hardened and non-compromising, more so than Mnuchin."

The good cop / bad cop dynamic is apparently starting to wear on Democrats. But Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.), who presumably worked with Meadows back when he was a representative for North Carolina, seemed to think his stubbornness came as no surprise. Meadows was "well known on Capitol Hill for sabotaging negotiations," wrote Beyer on Twitter.

The stalled negotiations have led to a lapse in unemployment aid for millions of Americans who were previously receiving $600 per week as the pandemic keeps many out of work. While Mnuchin has seemingly been optimistic the two sides can make a deal, Meadows hasn't budged on insisting Democrats lower their demands and "come back with a counterproposal." Talks could be further delayed, in part because Meadows is reportedly "out for the week." Read more at The Washington Post.

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