Pelosi, Mnuchin reach agreement to avert a government shutdown, still at an impasse on COVID-19 deal

Steven Mnuchin and Mark Meadows
(Image credit: Alex Wong/Getty Images)

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin have reached an informal deal to prevent the federal government from shutting down on Oct. 1, USA Today and Politico report. The agreement would extend existing funding levels until after the Nov. 3 election, probably through mid-December. Mnuchin and Pelosi came to their understanding on Tuesday while talking on the phone about a COVID-19 economic relief bill, USA Today reports. The two sides are still billions of dollars apart on a COVID-19 package.

Pelosi and Mnuchin did not "explicitly discuss" folding COVID-19 relief into the continuing resolution and also "did not rule it out," USA Today says. Congress has only a few weeks to pass any legislation before the election, and the compressed time frame might "force lawmakers' hands" on a COVID-19 bill, says George Washington University political scientist Sarah Binder. Either way, "nobody really wants to be blamed" for the "catastrophic blow" of another government shutdown in the middle of a pandemic.

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Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.