The second stimulus package is nowhere in sight in the United States.Talks over a bipartisan relief bill have been stalling since July, with Democratic congressional leaders unable to agree a plan with White House chiefs. 

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has said Congress should use the money to help small U.S. companies with grants. He was saying this while defending his decision to end several of the Federal Reserve’s key pandemic lending programs on December 31.

Also read: US stimulus talks slow but continue, prospects dimming

Mnuchin said he and White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows would speak with congressional Republican leaders and planned to increase their efforts to pass further stimulus measures.

The two sides do appear to agree on measures such as a second stimulus check of up to $1,200 for qualifying Americans, following on from the direct payment sent out as part of the CARES Act, a $2.2tn stimulus bill signed into law in late March.

But House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Mnuchin have not been able to find enough middle ground on the overall size and scope of a bill, though they have got closer.

While Pelosi has dropped the $3.4tn overall spend proposed in the Democrats’ failed HEROES Act to $2.2tn, Mnuchin has raised the White House’s offer from the $1tn in the HEALS Act – a bill proposed by GOP senators in July – to $1.9tn.

Dallas Federal Reserve Bank President Robert Kaplan asked for more fiscal support for the U.S. economy, particularly for state and local governments struggling with budget holes, and for the millions of unemployed who are spending down savings from prior aid.

“This hasn’t felt as much like a recession for a lot of businesses, it will start to, if you don’t have some renewal in some form of the fiscal relief”,he said at an energy conference held online by the Dallas and Kansas City Fed banks.