Congressional Democrats, faced with mounting constituent pressure, have signaled a willingness to make some concessions in exchange for a deal on the next round of pandemic aid, such as carving out some of the more contentious items as separate legislation, Bloomberg reported. For example, the Democratic-led House plans to vote on aid to the U.S. Post Service this weekend despite it being part of the House's own version of the stimulus bill. House Democrats had previously resisted enacting piecemeal legislation. As long as lawmakers will be in Washington, D.C., this weekend, other Democrats have said that they should also vote on the supplemental federal unemployment insurance as a separate line item.

While Republicans have found these moves encouraging, the Wall Street Journal said that they are facing pressures from deficit hawks to cut even more from their proposal. Consequently, the GOP is increasingly considering what it calls the "skinny bill," which would cost half of the $1 trillion they had originally called for, which itself was $1 trillion short of what Democrats would have considered the zone of compromise (Democrats had offered to cut $1 trillion from their $3.5 billion bill if Republicans added $1 trillion to theirs, but Republicans refused).

The Journal noted that if a deal is not reached before the end of the summer, negotiations risk running into discussions of the spending bill that will be needed once the government runs out of money in September, which will no doubt increase the contentiousness of the process.