Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he wants to pass a relief bill with neither legal immunity for businesses nor aid for state and local governments, two key and contentious issues along with direct stimulus checks to individuals.
“What I recommend is we set aside liability and set aside state and local, and pass those things that we can agree on knowing full well we’ll be back at this after the 1st of the year” during the transition to President-elect Joe Biden’s administration, McConnell told reporters on Tuesday.
McConnell added, however, that both sides have found consensus in some areas, including Paycheck Protection Program small business loans.
“We’ve been hopeful for a while that a fiscal stimulus deal will get done,” said Tom Martin, senior portfolio manager at GLOBALT. “But there are still deep-seated issues preventing” a deal from happening. Right now, the market is “treading water.”
Republican and Democratic leaders said Monday that Congress is trying to extend government funding for an additional week to try and strike a deal on new Covid-19 aid. The news came after a bipartisan group of senators unveiled a $908 billion stimulus proposal last week.
“News out of DC that fiscal stimulus talks have resumed is a positive development (though until a deal actually passes the President’s desk, this might be all hat, no cattle),” wrote Willie Delwiche, investment strategist at Baird.
Reference: CNBC
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