Stimulus package held up

WASHINGTON—Senate Democrats voted down Republicans’ $500 billion coronavirus relief bill on Wednesday while House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin continued negotiating economic recovery measures. Pelosi sent mixed messages on Wednesday, telling MSNBC, “I’m pretty happy. I think we have a prospect for an agreement.” But she added that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., refused to agree on a more than $2 trillion package, which could delay a deal until after the November election.

Will McConnell support a bill? He told Senate Republicans at a private Tuesday lunch that he warned President Donald Trump not to agree to a deal with Pelosi because it would divide GOP lawmakers. White House chief of staff Mark Meadows remained publicly hopeful: “The last 24 hours have moved the ball down the field.”

Dig deeper: Read Collin Garbarino’s report in Muse about the struggle movie theaters face to survive the pandemic economy.