White House officials and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (R-Calif.) opened the door to passing a coronavirus relief package after the election, a signal that time and political will has likely run out to enact legislation before then, the Wall Street Journal reported. Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin yesterday reported more progress on a potential $2 trillion aid agreement. But even if they strike a deal before Nov. 3, legislation would face vanishing prospects of quickly becoming law, thanks to both the tight calendar and hardened opposition in the GOP-controlled Senate. Still, in the waning days of an election season in which both the White House and Senate are up for grabs, neither party wanted to give up on months-long discussions over providing relief for households and businesses still struggling during the pandemic. “I’m optimistic that there will be a bill. It’s a question of, is it in time to pay the November rent, which is my goal, or is it going to be shortly thereafter and retroactive?” Pelosi said yesterday. Larry Kudlow, a top White House economic adviser, said on CNBC Wednesday that negotiators were “running out of time, at least between now and the election” and that wrapping up work on a relief package in a lame-duck session, after the election but before the next administration begins, “could be a possibility.”
