Pelosi Sets 48-Hour Deadline to Reach Stimulus Deal Before Election

By Dana Cruz Oct 18 2020, 22:15 PM EDT

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has given the Trump administration a 48-hour deadline to settle their disputes on a new coronavirus stimulus bill if they want it to pass before the election.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi introduces legislation to create 25th Amendment commission during news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington — REUTERS/Carlos Barria

Pelosi set the deadline after speaking with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Saturday night for over an hour.

According to a Fox Business report, Pelosi is still "hopeful" even though no agreement is reached in the stimulus deal's specifics.

In an interview with ABC's This Week on Sunday, Pelosi said the 48 hours only relate to if the White House wants a stimulus deal done before the election.

"But we're saying to them we have to freeze the design on some of these things," she noted. "Are we going with it or not? And what is the language?"

During the interview, Pelosi added that she remains "optimistic" because of the back-and-forth the bill has gone through between negotiators.

The pressure on the administration to cut a deal by Tuesday is because of the time the stimulus will need to go through Congress. It will need time to play out in both the House and the Senate.

The bill can't be passed on both chambers by November 3 if the talks continue to drag on through the next days.

Negotiations would still continue even if the talks go past the 48 hours, but the bill wouldn't get done in time for the November 3 Election Day, said a CNN report.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell set a Tuesday and Wednesday vote for stimulus measures and a stand-alone Paycheck Protection Program bill to help small businesses. But Democrats are expected to block these efforts, aiming for a much larger deal.

Stimulus Deal and COVID-19 Testing

There will be "minor" edits to a national coronavirus testing plan that the Democrats have been pushing. Pelosi noted a change in much of the language in testing and tracing somewhat came to an agreement last week.

But in a Saturday update, Pelosi's deputy chief of staff Drew Hammill revealed that both she and Mnuchin have not agreed on a testing plan.

In a letter to House Democrats on Sunday, Pelosi said that while there was "encouraging news, much work remains."

The White House assured there would only be a "light touch" in editing their language on testing. But they were given major changes, having 55 percent of their language for testing and tracing taken out.

The testing plan's goal was to include contact tracing and measures that can address the spread and disproportionate impact on communities of color.

For this, Pelosi criticized the administration for what they seek to fund for coronavirus testing under a stimulus deal. She said the White House does not see the need to allocate resources to "culturally competent contact tracing."

She also noted that some word changes impacted their call for a strategic plan. From words like "shall" and "requirement," the edited text changed the language to "may" and "recommendation."

She said there were outlined strategies to help communities of color, but those were all crossed out.

With the developments in the stimulus deal, U.S. stock index futures in early Asian trading was boosted, reported Bloomberg.

Pelosi and Mnuchin reportedly agreed to speak again on Monday to discuss efforts to finalize a stimulus package.