House Democrats, Senate Republicans, and the Trump administration appear to be moving in different directions on a second stimulus package, but key players are still moving toward an agreement [House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Thursday (Oct 15) said they had recently resumed negotiations after a months-long hiatus and that an agreement somewhere between the Democrats' $22 trillion revised HEROES bill and the White House's $18 trillion counterproposal progress on the coronavirus relief bill, as it is floating

President Donald J Trump said Thursday that he is willing to spend more and called on lawmakers to pass the bill, criticizing Mnuchin's delay

"So far, he hasn't come home with the bacon," Trump said earlier this week

More recently, the president has suggested that if he and Democrats reach an agreement, he will put pressure on reluctant Senate Republicans, who have so far thrown out a mostly symbolic "skinny" proposal to pass a larger bill [Bloomberg reported that Mnuchin told Pelosi on Thursday that Trump intends to personally lobby Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) to pass a massive stimulus package

"If we agree to something, the Republicans will agree to it," Trump told NBC's Savannah Guthrie

Of course, Trump's remarks do not guarantee movement in the Senate, where Republicans have so far resisted spending close to $2 trillion

McConnell and Senate Republicans are focused on the Supreme Court confirmation hearings, but are under pressure to do something about the stimulus bill ahead of Election Day

They are expected to consider another $500 billion package that does not include stimulus check 2 when the plenary session resumes next week (McConnell said earlier this week that "my members believe that a half trillion dollars, highly targeted, is the best way forward"

If Democrats and the White House agree to move forward with the $22 trillion HEROES bill already passed by the House, the Senate would need to pass the bill quickly in order for Americans to receive relief by November 3, or shortly after in less than three weeks

However, if a new bill emerges from the Mnuchin-Pelosi talks, it would require a vote in both houses, which would further delay things

In any case, McConnell and Trump will need to convince at least 13 of the 53 Republican senators to support the bill, which most of them already strongly oppose [Particularly on Friday, with news that the federal budget deficit for fiscal year 2020 reached $31 trillion, triple the fiscal year 2019 level

"Most of the increase in the deficit compared to last year is due to increased spending due to COVID relief," a budget expert told the Washington Post