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On Thursday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and White House chief of staff Mark Meadows spoke to discuss another coronavirus stimulus package.
But the two sides couldn’t come to an agreement for a broad stimulus package. Both parties would like such a bill to include items like a second round of stimulus checks, enhanced unemployment benefits, and another round of Paycheck Protection Program loans.
“[We’re] at a tragic impasse,” Pelosi told reporters after the phone call with Meadows. She told Bloomberg Democrats offered to come down from their request for $3.4 trillion to $2.2 trillion—the same size as the CARES Act passed in March—but Meadows rejected that offer.
It’s unclear if the White House has increased its offer of $1 trillion, which it made earlier this month.
If a deal can’t be made, Republicans may try to push forward with a limited stimulus package in the Senate of around $500 billion, which would include enhanced unemployment benefits, funding for schools, Paycheck Protection Program loans, and funding for a vaccine and testing. That limited bill would exclude a second round of stimulus checks and state government funding.