COVID-19 Stimulus Talks Deadline Finally Set on Noon Wednesday, Democrats Say

By Madelaine D. First Posted: Sep 30, 2020 05:38 AM EDT

The COVID-19 stimulus talks are facing a deadline of noon Wednesday.

The House Democrats are looking for the new COVID-19 fiscal stimulus package's talks to be finalized on Wednesday noon as they aim to pass it before the November presidential election.

A top House Democrats said late Tuesday that the Democrats would be waiting until Wednesday noon for the White House's response, with a counteroffer to the new $2.2 trillion aid bill that they unveiled on Monday.

Rep. Steny Hoyer, the second-ranking Democrat in the House, told reporters that "a substantive response tomorrow (Wednesday) morning, by noon," was what Democrats were waiting on.

It could very well mean hopes for a new stimulus package are dead until the winner of the post-election lame-duck session if both sides of the political divide will go ahead and vote on it, as per Market Watch.

COVID-19 Stimulus Talks to Approach Deadline on Noon Wednesday, Democrats Say

(Photo : Tasos Katopodis)
Congressional Democratic Leadership Detail Need For Additional Funding For Covid-19 Testing WASHINGTON, DC - SEPTEMBER 17: U.S. Speaker of the House Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) makes sure people are spread out before the start of a news conference on September 17, 2020 in Washington, DC. The House passed the HEROS ACT three months ago and, the senate offered a lesser version, but refused to compromise when Speaker Nancy Pelosi offered to meet halfway.

The discussions for the next round of stimulus had remained mostly dormant since early August. But stimulus talks flickered to life as Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi spoke on Tuesday for the second time in less than 24 hours.

Later, Pelosi was upbeat about the approximately 50-minute phone calls. She said in an interview on MSNBC: "Our conversation was a positive one. We'll get back together tomorrow to see how we can find common ground."

White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, one of the White House's negotiators in past COVID-19 relief talks, also stated that he and Mnuchin discussed the issue with President Donald Trump.

"The secretary and I have had a couple of conversations this morning. We also had a conversation with the president, so hopefully, we'll make some progress and find a solution for the American people." Meadows told reporters as he accompanied new Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett in Capitol Hill to the latter's meetings with individual senators ahead of the confirmation hearings.

With Mnuchin and Pelosi's conversations, the renewed stimulus talks had been the most extended discussion in weeks, come against a background that is increasingly dominated by the upcoming presidential election, as per MSN.

This is the last week that House and Senate lawmakers are scheduled to be in the Capitol before the November election, aside from the Senate possibly coming back to vote on Barett. With the Senate in play to potentially flip to Democratic control, many lawmakers are eager to wrap up business and hit the campaign trail for the final few weeks.

The Senate is set to approve a new stimulus bill on Wednesday to keep the government temporarily funded through December 11 and is expected to stick around through Thursday.

The House is slated on Friday to vote on a slimmed-down version of the sweeping stimulus bill they passed in May. The Democrats said that vote could come as early as Wednesday.

"When we reduced it, we didn't take out priorities. We just reduced the timeline as to how long those benefits would last," Pelosi said of what the House Democrats called "Heroes 2.0."

The initial bill had a $3.4 trillion price tag, an amount reduced to about $2.2 trillion in the new stimulus bill.