Nancy Pelosi and Steve Mnuchin on verge of $2 trillion coronavirus bailout deal after months of delay with checks for all and new PPP if they agree – and Republican senators back it

Democrats and the White House are nearing a deal for the next coronavirus stimulus bill with a price tag of $2 trillion, including a retroactive boost in unemployment that will last through the end of the year.

The House Speaker met with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin Wednesday afternoon for an hour-and-a-half to try and hammer out the details of a deal to provide relief to Americans and stimulus to the U.S. economy in the midst of the prevailing coronavirus pandemic.

Pelosi and Mnuchin plan to meet on Capitol Hill again Thursday and House Democratic leaders announced a delay in voting on their $2.2 trillion bill until after those talks.

'The speaker thinks there's a possibility of getting a deal,' House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland told Roll Call after meeting with Pelosi.

'If we have a deal, yes, we may well do that,' Hoyer said when asked if the House would be willing to wait several more days to vote if Pelosi and Mnuchin want to continue fine tuning legislative text. 'But if we don't have a deal, then we're going to move the bill.'

A person briefed on the GOP plan told Roll Call Wednesday that Mnuchin's latest proposal includes a $400 per week federal benefit on unemployment insurance which would work retroactively to September 12 and continue through Jan. 1, 2021.

Although the new measure is $200 less than the $600 per week Democrats want, it is still $100 more than Senate Republicans proposed this summer.  

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin will stop by Capitol Hill Thursday for another round of negotiations with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on the next coronavirus stimulus package

Although Pelosi and Mnuchin neared a deal during their talks Wednesday, the two are still billions apart on the desired price tags of their respective proposals

Mnuchin is also pitching $160 billion more to revive the Paycheck Protection Program, with $10 billion specifically allocated for minority-owned businesses. 

The second round of forgivable loans will help more businesses remain open as they are hit by economic downfall in the midst of the pandemic. It also comes as American Airlines and United Airlines announced a mass round of furloughs are coming as their funds run out.

While Republicans want the deal to be more in the $1 trillion range – with some fiscal conservatives claiming there is no need for yet another COVID-19 stimulus package – Democrats are pushing for a bill with the likes of $2 trillion plus.

As of the latest package proposal, Pelosi has moved from her initial number of $3.4 trillion to $2.2 trillion, and Mnuchin has moved the needle on the right side of negotiations from $1 trillion to $1.62 trillion. 

White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany cast doubt on the continued negotiations, accusing Pelosi of not taking the talks seriously.

'Nancy Pelosi is not being serious,' McEnany told reporters during a press briefing at the White House Thursday morning. 'If she becomes serious, then we can have a discussion here.'  

But the speaker said during her weekly press conference at the Capitol about an hour earlier that she is 'optimistic' about the deliberations and looks forward to her discussion with Mnuchin later in the afternoon.

'We not only have a dollars debate, we have a values debate,' Pelosi told reporters. 'Still, I'm optimistic.' 

Although the two parties still have a gap of $580 billion between their desired price tags, the move Wednesday night signals progress toward a deal being struck before the presidential election.

White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany accused Pelosi of 'not being serious' in negotiations. She said during a briefing Thursday: 'If she becomes serious, then we can have a discussion here'

Mnuchin admitted Wednesday night of Fox Business that Republicans will not go for such a high number.

'We're not going to do a $2.2 trillion deal,' Mnuchin said. 'The president instructed us to come up significantly, so we have come up from the trillion-dollar deal that we were working on earlier.'

If the right deal is made, Mnuchin signaled the White House's latest offer could be in the 'neighborhood' of $1.5 billion.

White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows told reporters traveling on Air Force One Wednesday night that GOP package 'extremely generous.'

Even as Pelosi and Mnuchin move closer to a deal, there is still doubt that it will ever reach the GOP-majority Senate floor.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Wednesday they are still 'very, very far apart.'

Negotiations between Pelosi and Mnuchin, sometimes joined by Meadows, have been at a stand-still for months as it became clear the two sides were asking for more than the other was willing to give into. 

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell cast doubt Wednesday that the measure will even make it to the Senate floor, claiming they are still 'very, very far apart'

As Pelosi and Mnuchin met Wednesday, Meadows was on the other side of the Capitol meeting with McConnell.

Still unsolved by the two sides are how much to allocate for state and local funding in the next bill, as Democrats want $500 billion and Republicans are more near half that number. Funding for K-12 has also reached a halt with Democrats demanding $225 billion and Republicans only willing to go to $150 billion.

Also not yet agreed upon are several tax provisions, some related to health care.

The $250 billion Mnuchin is offering for state and local assistance is more than GOP negotiators have put forward to date.

It is unclear if McConnell will be able to sell anything higher than the $1 trillion the GOP Senate previously put forward as a vote on the new legislation comes to the higher chamber's floor.

Following Mnuchin's meeting with Pelosi on Wednesday, the Treasury Secretary briefed McConnell, and a source said the Kentucky Republican felt he might be able to get the votes needed – but a spokesperson for McConnell denied that characterization.