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After three weeks of silence between Democratic and Republican leaders, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and White House chief of staff Mark Meadows discussed another coronavirus stimulus package on Thursday.
The meeting concluded without a deal, and Pelosi said the two parties were “at a tragic impasse.”
Pelosi told reporters on Thursday that Democrats offered to come down from their request for $3.4 trillion to $2.2 trillion. Meanwhile, on Friday the White House offered to come up from $1 trillion to $1.3 trillion.
Both parties rejected the other’s offer, however, they’ve moved closer in terms of size of the stimulus package. When the negations broke down on August 7, the two parties were $2.4 trillion apart. Now they’re $900 billion apart.
It’s unclear if Democratic and Republican party leaders will continue negotiations this week.
In the next coronavirus stimulus package, Democratic and Republican leaders would like to include items like a second round of stimulus checks, enhanced unemployment benefits, funding for testing, and another round of Paycheck Protection Program loans.
Apart from the total size of the stimulus package, the parties are also in disagreement on items including a steep increase in federal aid to state and local governments, which Democrats support, and COVID-19 lawsuit immunity for businesses, which Republicans support.
And with both the House and Senate on recess, a stimulus deal before September looks unlikely.
