The 48-hour deadline set by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to come to a final deal on the pandemic aid deal has been set back by another 48 hours, as Democrats and the White House cite progress in negotiations, according to Bloomberg. While initially it seemed as if the speaker would break off talks if an agreement was not reached by last night, it would seem that she intended it to be more to prod Republicans on some longstanding issues, such as the wording of the testing and tracing provision. 

Over the course of talks yesterday afternoon, the White House gave more ground by agreeing to stronger language on the testing and tracing provisions, as well as offering $1.88 trillion rather than the $1.8 trillion position it held before (which itself was higher than the $1.6 trillion initial offer). This amount is higher than anything proposed before, but still short of the $2.2 trillion the Democrats would prefer. The White House, according to Bloomberg, says that the real 48-hour deadline starts now, with the goal being a final deal by the end of this week.

Yet, even if this is achieved, the proposal will still need to clear Republican legislators, who believe that whatever deal comes from negotiations between Democrats and the White House will be too high, said the Wall Street Journal. Essentially, the more ground the White House gains with Democrats, the more support it loses with Republicans, who prefer a package orders of magnitude smaller than what either have proposed. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said he feared that if a deal is formally proposed before the election, it could lead to a messy public split in the party, as he is unsure enough Republicans would support it.

If there is no deal before the end of the week, then mechanically it will not have the time to pass both chambers of commerce and be signed into law before the election, said Bloomberg. A recent analysis by Goldman Sachs predicts that, despite optimistic pronouncements by both parties, this is unlikely to happen, said CNBC. The analysis said the major issues remaining are so big that it is unlikely they will be resolved before the election, meaning any stimulus package of any sort will likely come afterward.