Stimulus talks break down, Trump says a deal is ‘not going to happen’

Yahoo Finance’s Brian Sozzi, Alexis Christoforous, and Jessica Smith give an update on talks for the next stimulus checks.

Video Transcript

ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: This morning, there are growing doubts over a stimulus deal. The latest round of talks yesterday between House Speaker Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Mnuchin broke up almost as soon as they started. And President Trump said last night that a deal is, quote, "not going to happen." Our DC correspondent Jessica Smith is here with us now.

And Jess, I guess Pelosi said the two sides in her words are, "miles apart." This is not good.

JESSICA SMITH: Yeah, the two sides are still very far apart here. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and House Speaker Pelosi did speak by phone yesterday, and the Democratic leaders say that Mnuchin made it clear the administration was not going to budge. They say that the administration still doesn't grasp the magnitude of the problem, and they won't meet again-- or at least they say they are going to wait and restart negotiations-- until the administration starts taking the process seriously, in their words.

Now, Mnuchin says that it was the Democratic lawmakers, the Democratic side, who are not willing to negotiate. He says they have no interest in it. And we did hear from President Trump yesterday at his briefing with reporters blaming Democrats for this, saying that a bill is not going to happen because they are pushing for so many other things that are unrelated to the coronavirus.

We will hear from Speaker Pelosi at 10:45 this morning in her weekly press conference, so we'll see if she gets us any more details about where things stand.

ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: And what about Trump's executive actions that he signed over the weekend? I know some of them are going to be challenged in court. Where do those stand right now?

JESSICA SMITH: Well, you know, it's still not clear when people may start seeing any extra money-- those enhanced unemployment benefits that the president had promised. And he did promise $400 a week extra in the beginning of this, but now it looks like it will only be a guaranteed $300 a week if the states can get this program up and running, which it's not clear that they're going to be able to do anytime soon.

We're also waiting on further guidance on the eviction moratorium. It's not really an eviction moratorium. This is an executive action on evictions, but it doesn't ban evictions at this point. And experts worry that it might give people a false sense of security.

And finally, there are worries about the payroll tax move that the president took over the weekend, deferring those payroll taxes. The Chamber of Commerce put out a statement in a letter to the administration saying that they had concerns about this for employees and employers. We also heard from President Trump yesterday, saying that he wanted to permanently cut that payroll tax. But that is something that would need Congress to get involved in. Congress is not going to be anywhere near excited about that deal. That's not going to happen. So we'll see what the president does going forward on this.