Pelosi, Mnuchin Edge Closer to a Stimulus Deal; Agreement Won’t Guarantee Passage

U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin narrowed their differences over a proposed pandemic relief package in a phone call Monday afternoon, her spokeswoman tweeted. The two sides are racing to get a package approved before the Nov. 3 election.

• "The Speaker and Secretary Mnuchin spoke at 3:00 p.m. today for approximately 53 minutes," Drew Hammill, Pelosi's deputy chief of staff, said in her tweet. "In this call, they continued to narrow their differences. The Speaker has tasked committee chairs to reconcile differences with their GOP counterparts on key areas."
• "The Speaker continues to hope that, by the end of the day Tuesday, we will have clarity on whether we will be able to pass a bill before the election," Hammill said. Pelosi has said Tuesday evening is the latest an agreement can be reached for it to be passed by the election.
• The White House has proposed a $1.8 trillion coronavirus relief measure while Pelosi and the majority House Democrats want $2.2 trillion.
• A strong caveat, however: Even if the Trump Administration and the House of Representatives reach agreement on a package, passage isn't assured. Many Republicans in the GOP-controlled Senate are balking at the large dollar amounts of the measures being discussed.
• Why this matters to crypto: Bitcoin (BTC) prices have risen this year as investors wager that trillions of dollars of government and central bank spending around the globe in response to the pandemic-induced slowdown will inevitably result in inflation, and therefore boost the cryptocurrency.

Read also: Pelosi Says It’s Tuesday or Bust if White House Wants a Pre-Election Stimulus Package: Report