COVID-19 Bill Talks Continue; Lame-Duck Progress Seen Hinging on Election

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin voiced optimism Wednesday about the direction of restarted negotiations on compromise COVID-19 relief legislation, as they began in-person talks. House Democrats filed a revised version of the Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions (Heroes) Act (HR-8406) earlier in the week that includes more than $15 billion in broadband funding (see 2009290044). Mnuchin believed he and Pelosi can “reach a reasonable compromise” in coming days. “We’re both making a good faith effort to try to get this done,” he told a CNBC investor conference. “I think we want to figure out whether we can get it done, and if not, move on.” Pelosi told reporters she's awaiting White House response to HR-8406. House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Mike Doyle, D-Pa., noted the need for a compromise aid package during a prerecorded appearance at the National Cable Television Cooperative/ACA Connects Independent Show webcast Wednesday. He blamed the lack of a deal on the White House and Senate Republicans, who balked at advancing an earlier version of the Heroes Act (HR-6800) that the House passed in May (see 2005130059). It’s “much harder to predict” whether there will be any Hill progress on other telecom legislation during the post-election lame-duck session, Doyle said. It may depend whether there’s a clear-cut result in the contests for the Senate majority and the race between President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden. “Both sides might be willing to clear the decks and end some of the gridlock” if there’s a clear sense of who will control the White House and Senate in 2021 once Congress returns in November, Doyle said.