U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the White House and Democrats aim to strike a deal on virus-relief legislation by the end of the week — even though the two sides remain far apart on some key issues, Bloomberg News reported. “We’re not at the point of being close to a deal, but we did try to agree to set a timeline,” Mnuchin said after meeting yesterday with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.). “We’re going to try to reach an overall agreement, if we can get one, by the end of this week — so that legislation could then pass next week.” Pelosi said yesterday that she also hoped a deal could be reached this week, with legislation drafted and passed next week. “We have to have an agreement And we will have an agreement,” she said. Mnuchin and White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows said that Republicans would agree to a moratorium on evictions through the end of the year, and made an offer on supplemental unemployment insurance, one of the main sticking points in the negotiations. Earlier in the day, many lawmakers said they were skeptical that a deal could be in hand by Friday. Even if that were achieved, a vote likely wouldn’t be taken by the House and Senate until next week, meaning there would be a gap in the unemployment payments, which ran out last Friday.
