Negotiations for a new round of pandemic aid have moved further and faster than they have in weeks, yet a deal still seems like a distant possibility. Over the weekend, the White House moved closer to Democrats by offering a $1.8 trillion deal, compared to the $1.6 trillion it had been previously offering, but this has still not been enough to clinch a final deal, said CNN. The sum, meaty though it may be, still remains below the $2.2 trillion that Democrats had reduced their offer to, down from the roughly $3 trillion they proposed in May. Bloomberg quoted House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) as saying that the latest offer was a "miserable and deadly failure."

While the pure numbers remain a major source of disagreement, particularly where they concern unemployed benefits and aid to state and local governments, another sore spot has been what is, and is not, getting funded. House Democrats have demanded more measures that specifically pertain to the coronavirus, such as increased contact tracing, said CNN.

But even if Democrats and the White House can reach a deal, they will still need to contend with congressional Republicans, who have balked at the administration's offers, and are doing so even more vigorously as the counteroffers grow in size, said the Wall Street Journal. Republicans, who had passed a $300 billion "skinny bill" in September, have objected to the size of the White House's offers, as well as provisions such as an expansion to Affordable Care Act subsidies for those who have been affected by the virus, which clashes with the party's historical efforts to dismantle the program.