US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said on Wednesday that he and the House of Representatives, namely House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, are "far apart" on the next COVID-19 stimulus.
"We continue to make progress on certain issues, but on certain issues, we continue to be far apart", Mnuchin said at the Milken Institute Global Conference in Washington. "I'd say at this point, getting something done before the election and executing on that would be difficult just given where we are and the level of detail, but we're going to try to continue to work through these issues."
Following his comments, US stocks finished lower, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average falling 165.81 points, or 0.6 percent, to close at 28,514, according to CNBC News. The S&P 500 finished its trading session 0.7 percent lower at 3,488.67 and the Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.8 percent to 11,768.73. Stocks have continued to fall for a second consecutive day amid the slim prospects of coronavirus aid coming.
After the session closed on Wall Street, Mnuchin commented that they would "keep trying" to reach a deal.
"The president has said to me, keep at this until you get this done", he said on the Fox Business network. "If we don't get it now, when the president wins the election we'll get it passed quickly afterwards."
Next week, Senate Republicans will vote on a smaller economic stimulus bill for the coronavirus than that sought by rival Democrats, which is again set to fail in getting the required support from the other side.
US Congress has passed four packages of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act already, designed to provide PPP for workers, loans and grants for businesses and other forms of aid to US citizens hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.
