Democrats and Republicans Reportedly Agree on Deal to Avoid Government Shutdown Amid Stimulus Talks

While lawmakers have still not been able to come to an agreement on another stimulus package, they have agreed on a new deal to avoid a government shutdown. On Sunday, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin explained that Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has agreed to a continuing resolution that will prevent a government shutdown, per Fox News. Although, as of right now, Democrats and Republicans have still not made any headway on another stimulus package.

Mnuchin told Fox News Sunday, "We are going to do a clean CR." He added that it is uncertain how long this will keep the government going. But, he believes that it will go "through the beginning of December." The Treasury Secretary continued to say that he hopes that progress will be made on the resolution "by the end of the week." This continuing resolution is reportedly separate from the stimulus-related negotiations that have been going on. As Mnuchin explained, the Democrats and the Republicans still disagree on the price point of the package. While Democrats originally proposed a plan that would total $3 trillion, they later said that they would agree to one that was closer to $2.2 trillion. As for the Republicans, they have not proposed a package that is greater than $1.3 trillion in total.

"The speaker has refused to sit down and negotiate unless we agree to something like a $2.5 trillion deal in advance," Mnuchin said. "As you know, we put $3 trillion into the economy when the economy was completely shut down and we've now reopened the economy. Let's do a more targeted bill now and if we need to do more in 30 days we'll continue to do more." Just as the Treasury Secretary has said that this impasse is due to the Democrats, those on the other side of the aisle have laid the blame with the Republicans. In early September, Pelosi spoke with Mnuchin about this topic. She later told reporters that the conversation did not prove to be a successful one.

"Sadly, this phone call made clear that Democrats and the White House continue to have serious differences understanding the gravity of the situation that America's working families are facing," Pelosi said. Like Mnuchin, she noted that the two sides disagree on the price point of the second stimulus package. Given that Democrats and Republicans have not been able to agree on this figure, it seems as though they are still at an impasse as far as stimulus negotiations are concerned.