Stimulus: Former Trump Official Weighs in on Probability of Plan Not Passing Before Election

Talks of passing a stimulus plan before the election continued once again on Monday, but with just eight days standing in between the Nov. 3 election, the odds of getting an agreement made before the polls close are diminishing. Gary Cohn, a former White House National Economic Council Director under Donald Trump, feels that the likelihood of anything getting passed before then is minute.

Cohn told Yahoo! Finance that the reason behind The Dow dropping 2% -- its largest over the past seven weeks -- and the decline in the S&P 500 and Nasdaq has to do with the belief that stimulus help isn't coming anytime soon, even going as far to say there's a "100% probability" it won't happen. He explained that with eight days to go, "no one thinks we're going to have fiscal stimulus until after an election." Adding to his case is the likelihood that after Monday's Senate confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court, policymakers will be vacating the area until after the election.

Following Monday's talks between the two sides, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi continued to trade shots with the White House over relief talks, though remaining optimistic that something can be agreed to before the week ends. She also called out White House chief of staff Mark Meadows for appearing to admit defeat to COVID-19 when he said over the weekend that "we're not going to control the pandemic." On Monday night after the appointment of Barrett, Pelosi didn't hold back her thoughts on Twitter. Like many Democrats have expressed, Pelosi called it an "act of supreme desperation" to rush in Barrett just ahead of the election.

Pelosi's frustration stems from the rising number of new coronavirus cases while believing there's been a lack of focus on finding a way to combat the invisible enemy. On Friday, the country set its record for cases in a day and followed that up with another high on Saturday. Dr. Anthony Fauci, among others, has expressed his concern about where the numbers are heading at the start of the fall season and inching closer to the winter flu season. In an interview with Yahoo! on Monday, Fauci said America is in a "precarious" situation and the numbers show that it's "not good news" the direction that numbers are heading. He did note that the race for a vaccine is moving at a "good pace."