Pelosi and Schumer awkwardly describe competing stimulus bills as animals 'unable to mate'

Congress' leading Democrats have provided Americans with some terrible mental imagery.

Democrats and Republicans are sparring over a coronavirus relief bill to replace the phase three CARES Act that will expire in just two days. But as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) described Tuesday, the parties' competing visions are nowhere near ready to come together.

Pelosi described the two parties' ideals as "a giraffe and a flamingo" during a Tuesday meeting with Schumer, White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, an Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Politico reports. "They're both at a zoo. A dumb person may think they could mate for offspring. A smart person knows that's impossible. That's our bills. They're unable to mate."

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If that metaphor wasn't clear enough, Schumer surely drove the point home with one of his own. "A golden retriever can't mate with a Chihuahua. You have a Chihuahua. We have a beautiful lion," he said, Politico reports via people in the room. "Pelosi then helpfully reminded Schumer that a lion is a cat, so, no, they could not mate," Politico writes.

Schumer did get one part of the metaphor wrong: Golden retrievers and Chihuahuas can mate. Don't think about the how and enjoy this adorable picture of the uncommon mix.