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Stimulus talks continue as lawmakers struggle to reach agreement over unemployment benefits

Stimulus talks are continuing on Capitol Hill as lawmakers struggle to reach an agreement regarding unemployment benefits. Yahoo Finance's Jessica Smith joins the On the Move panel to discuss.

Video Transcript

ADAM SHAPIRO: Jessica Smith joins us from Washington, DC with the latest on stimulus negotiations. Jess.

JESSICA SMITH: You know Adam, we just heard from the leaders in the Senate, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer speaking on the floor. They both blamed the other side for their still not getting a deal done. There's still no deal here. We did hear some positive talks yesterday after a meeting between democratic leaders and the administration.

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Pelosi and Schumer said that they had maybe made a little progress. They were productive. But still neither side is giving in, especially on those enhanced unemployment benefits. President Trump also floated the idea yesterday of using executive action to address some of the issues like an eviction moratorium. And then he was asked in the White House briefing yesterday if he would also consider executive action for his payroll tax cut. That's something he's been pushing for. Here's what President Trump had to say.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, I can do that also through an executive order. So we'll be talking about that. But we're having a very good discussion with Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer. The problem is, they want to do bailouts of their various democrat run states and cities. And they want a lot of money. They want a trillion dollars for that.

JESSICA SMITH: Again, President Trump taking issue with democratic lawmakers in their push for state and local funding. We've also heard from some state and local leaders that that is needed. But President Trump does not want to see that happen. But you heard him say there that he would consider taking executive action for that payroll tax cut.

That comes after we saw Stephen Moore wrote an op ed saying that the president should direct the IRS to stop collecting payroll taxes. And then the president could promise to sign a bill to forgive that-- those taxes later on. So we'll see if in talks today, talks this week these negotiators can come up with any sort of progress before the White House potentially turns to taking action on its own.