Democrats prepare new $2.2. trillion stimulus deal
House Democrats unveiled a new $2.2 trillion bill that would include a second round of $1,200 stimulus checks. Yahoo Finance's Jessica Smith joins The Final Round panel to breaks down the details.
Video Transcript
- All right. Well, let's get to the leaders down in DC, because investors are closely watching any developments on stimulus. We have Democrats unveiling a $2.2 trillion stimulus proposal. The proposal is still being dubbed the HEROES ACT. Jess Smith is in DC with the latest on the talks for us. Jess?
JESSICA SMITH: Yeah, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says she is hopeful that they can come to a deal at some point this week. We'll see if that actually happens. There is still a really big gap between the two sides at this point.
As you mentioned, House Democrats did unveil their updated HEROES Act. They took their bill that they did in May and they added a few things, and they shortened the terms of some of the provisions in it in order to reduce the price tag from $3.4 trillion to about $2.2 trillion.
So this proposal would still have the enhanced unemployment benefits. It would bring those back to $600 per week through January. It would also have another round of direct payments, the $1,200 checks to Americans. It would bring back the Paycheck Protection Program, and it would also help restaurants and airlines, obviously two industries that have really struggled since Democrats first passed the HEROES Act back in May.
We know that Mnuchin and Pelosi have been talking over the past couple of days. They spoke last night, spoke again this morning for almost an hour, going over some of the provisions that are in this new bill.
But as I mentioned, there is still a really big gap. Politico is reporting that Mnuchin is going to come back when they talk tomorrow and propose something like a $1 and 1/2 trillion package. So that's roughly $1 trillion that they still have to work out.
We'll see if Speaker Pelosi actually puts this bill on the floor for a vote. There is a line of thinking out there that if she actually does have the House vote on this, this is not a good sign for any progress or compromise if she's voting on that bill, instead of talking about an actual agreement. So we'll see what Pelosi and Mnuchin have to say after their conversation tomorrow morning.
- Just real quick-- have the odds, do you think, increased that we will get a deal before the election, just given the fact that Mnuchin and Pelosi talked for such an extended period of time last night, that the dialogue is continuing today? Do you think we're in a little bit of a different place than we were at least 24 hours ago?
JESSICA SMITH: I'm still pretty skeptical about a deal actually coming together here. But the fact that they are talking, and they're talking for almost an hour-- that's a long phone call. So I think that is a little more promising, maybe.
But I think we'll have a better idea here in the next 24 hours or so maybe when she talks to him tomorrow, because they were hoping to get a vote at some point this week. It's the last week that Congress is set to be in session before the election, so the clock's really ticking here. I think we'll have a better idea in the next 24 hours or so.
- All right. Jess Smith with the latest for us from DC. Thank you.
