With just over two weeks until Election Day, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has set a deadline for negotiating a stimulus package, requiring the Trump administration to reach an agreement by the end of Tuesday, October 20, in order to ensure passage of the bill by November 3.

In a televised interview on Sunday (October 18), Speaker Pelosi said that lawmakers must reach an agreement within 48 hours to finalize and vote on the bill before Election Day. The House Speaker has been in talks with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, but the two sides have yet to agree on a bailout package. If no agreement is reached, negotiations on a stimulus package will be carried over beyond November.

"The 48 just has to do with whether or not we want to get it done before the elections. But we have to freeze the design on some of these things, we are telling them if we will do it and what the language is."

As the Washington Post reports, Democrats and the White House are further apart on the specifics of the bill than on the total amount. Mnuchin is slowly moving toward the cost of the House's $2.2 trillion revised HEROES Act, passed earlier this month, while Trump has suggested that he would actually authorize more spending.

However, provisions such as the amount of aid to state and local governments, funding for coronavirus testing, and liability protection for businesses are still up in the air. The first two are important to the Democrats; the third is important to the Republicans. Both sides generally agree that the next bailout should include a second $1,200 check to eligible American taxpayers.

Up to this point, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) has been hesitant to consider what House Democrats have proposed. Senate Republicans are scheduled to vote on a second $500 billion "skinny" bailout on Wednesday.

However, Politico reported that McConnell suggested Saturday that House Democrats and the White House might bring an agreement to the floor.

"If Speaker Pelosi were to reach a bipartisan agreement with the House and the administration, the Senate would of course consider it," he said.

Trump himself has suggested that Senate Republicans would be sympathetic if an agreement is reached, even if Republicans are moving in the opposite direction. Thus, there remains a chance that a stimulus bill could be passed before Election Day, but the chances of that happening are rapidly narrowing.