Lawmakers and Trump administration officials are close to agreeing on a total spending amount for a second stimulus package, but there is still a gap of nearly $1 trillion to move the bill forward.

White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows said that President Trump "would be willing to sign on at $1.3 trillion," Forbes reported. However, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), who represents the Democratic Party, has held firm on the $2.2 trillion proposal.

In addition to the overall cost of the bill, the two sides have not reached a consensus on whether and how to continue federal unemployment insurance supplementation; the $600 per week that would be added to state benefits under the CARES Act will expire at the end of July, and President Trump's recent Only a handful of states have begun to provide the (temporary) small weekly stipend provided under the Executive Order.

While Democrats would like to see the $600 weekly stipend continue, many other proposals would reduce the benefit to $200-$300 per week (the amount provided under the Executive Order) and phase it out entirely over the next few weeks and months.

Meadows and Pelosi held a conference call late last week, but negotiations remain at an impasse, with no clear plan to move negotiations forward.

Without an agreement on unemployment and overall spending, stimulus check 2 remains in limbo. It is even possible that lawmakers and the Trump administration will agree to omit the second direct payment altogether.

Both the House and Senate have floated the idea of a "skinny" stimulus bill that would address federal unemployment benefits and not much else. The existing package, including the House-passed HEROES Act and the Senate-proposed HEALS Act, would include a $1,200 payment to those who qualify under the CARES Act, but the scaled-back bill would not provide a stimulus check2.

Lawmakers will return to Washington from their current recess after Labor Day, at which point they may move forward with one or more of these proposals.