With the election of Joseph R. Biden as president and the swift establishment of a pandemic task force, there may be hope for a second stimulus bill, including a second round of stimulus spending, but that relief may not come until next year.

Economists are pushing for some stimulus spending, but analysts acknowledge that the second stimulus package may be smaller than the Democrats' $2.2 trillion HEROES bill that passed the House this fall.

During the election cycle, Biden proposed a second round of direct payments in addition to additional unemployment benefits.

However, the next president will not take office until January 20, 2021. Until then, the Trump administration, the Republican-controlled Senate, and the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives will remain on the same page for months, at odds over how much to spend on the stimulus package and how to allocate the funds. And the American people will continue to wait for an agreement to be reached.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin spent September and October coming close to a $2 trillion agreement and reaching consensus on the need for a stimulus check2. [Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) has so far resisted Stimulus Check 2. In September and October, the Senate voted twice on a $500 billion "skinny" bill, both nearly symbolic and neither included a Stimulus Check 2. 2021 Republicans may not go any further if they retain control of the Senate in 2021.

McConnell said last week that he is open to passing a stimulus package by the end of 2020, and suggested to reporters on Friday that Congress should pass a downsizing bill, which Pelosi rejected.

However, Congress must also fight a December 11 deadline to reach an agreement on government funding in order to avoid a shutdown. As reported by the Washington Post, President Trump has not indicated whether he would sign such a spending bill or even whether he would be able to ease the stimulus package during the remainder of his term.