Trump holds up stimulus deal over Post Office, election funding

In an interview, President Trump said he was holding up a stimulus deal over Democratic demands for funding for the U.S. Post Office and mail-in voting. Yahoo Finance's Alexis Christoforous and Brian Sozzi discuss with Senior Columnist Rick Newman.

Video Transcript

ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: I want to ask you something off the beaten track there for a minute, Rick. In an interview this morning, President Trump essentially said he is holding up the stimulus deal over money for the Post Office and mail-in voting. Hard to believe he actually said that out loud, but what do you make of that?

RICK NEWMAN: Whoops. He showed his hand. So what this is all about is the Democratic bill-- this is a small amount of money relative to the overall bill. So the Democratic bill includes $3.5 billion to help secure universal mail-in voting and then an extra $25 billion just to help the Postal Service with general operations. And Trump said he opposes both of those funding streams because it would basically allow the post office to function. And he said, you know, we don't-- he basically said we don't want the Postal Service to be able to handle universal mail-in voting for everybody who wants to vote that way this fall.

So, you know, we're talking about a stimulus bill here that's going to end up between $1 trillion and $3 trillion, and Trump is talking about the small-- relatively small figures for the Postal Service.

So, honestly, what I think Trump is doing is he's kind of making a martyr out of the Postal Service. I mean, now he has shown his hand. Now the Democrats-- I think there's no way the Democrats will give in now. They're just going to say, oh, now we know what Trump's really up to. Nancy Pelosi is going to say we are standing up for the Postal Service. It's kind of like standing up for apple pie because you're standing-- you know, you're standing up for the right for people to get their prescriptions and to get, you know, letters from their relatives and things like that. So I think Trump kind of stepped in it this morning.

BRIAN SOZZI: Rick, both parties are ruining the economy in real time. You have millions of people unemployed, and these two parties can't come together and get this deal done. What ultimately causes a deal to get done?

RICK NEWMAN: You know, Brian, I mean, now that Trump has given us a little bit more of a glimpse into the inner workings of the negotiations, the Democrats are holding firm, and I think they're just going to be emboldened by Trump basically saying this is all political about the Postal Service. And Trump, meanwhile, seems to be taking the line that, well, Congress can't get it done, so he's doing a few executive orders, even though the executive orders probably won't be very effective.

So, you know, about three weeks ago I thought we'd have a deal by now. And now the counting from inside Washington is do not expect a deal any earlier than about mid-September, and I think the odds have just gone up that we get no deal.

BRIAN SOZZI: No deal?

RICK NEWMAN: I think so because now that you know where each party stands on this vital issue of funding for the Postal Service, it even puts both parties even more in the position of somebody has to cave. Usually one side or the other caves, or they both cave a little bit but there is some face saving that allows everybody to declare victory. I think given that Trump has now basically outed himself and shown his hand on funding for the Postal Service, he can't cave, and now the Democrats can't cave. If they give an inch on postal funding, it's going to look like they're caving to Trump. So I think this now makes it harder to get a deal done.

BRIAN SOZZI: These folks are out to lunch. We'll leave it there. Rick Newman, always good to speak with you.

RICK NEWMAN: Bye, guys.