Stimulus Stalemate Lingers as Senate Returns to Washington
- Congress has month to resolve differences on aid to economy
- Jobs report fails to dislodge parties from entrenched stances
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The Senate returns to Washington Tuesday with the Trump administration and Democrats no closer to agreement on a new virus relief package than they were when talks broke off in early August -- despite the pressure of the U.S. election in 56 days.
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will try to break the logjam this week with a scaled-down $500 billion stimulus plan that the White House supports. Although that’s half of what the GOP offered at the end of July, McConnell is struggling to get Republicans fully behind it as newly-energized fiscal hawks in the party balk at adding to the estimated $3.3 trillion fiscal 2020 deficit.