Hi, I'm Dan Pramak and welcome to Axios Recap, presented by Google.

Today is Wednesday, October 14th.

U.S. food costs are up, stocks are down, and we're focused on the stimulus stalemate.

Earlier today, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin met via phone

for about an hour on the forever-stalled stimulus package.

Mnuchin later said that getting a deal done before the election will be difficult, while

Pelosi called the talks productive.

The bottom line, there's still no deal. Six months after

most American taxpayers got those stimulus checks, which they then spent on everything from rent to

groceries. Two months after expanded unemployment benefits expired, or since businesses could

apply for forgivable loans. Oh, and again, just three weeks before the

election. So we want to go deeper on where things really stand and why D.C. can't do what seems so

obviously required for our economy with House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer. That conversation

in 15 seconds. We're joined now by House Majority

Leader Steny Hoyer. So, Congressman, are we closer to a deal today than we were, say,

two or three weeks ago? Or are we basically at the same stalemate? Well, I think we're closer

to the extent that I think Secretary Manuchin wants to get to a deal.

I think Speaker Pelosi wants to get to a deal.

A lot of people are depending upon getting a deal.

A lot of people who are really hurting and we need to make a deal as soon as possible.

When I say a deal in agreement, as Mnuchin and Speaker Pelosi did four times previously with

reference to COVID-19, we passed four bills overwhelmingly in a bipartisan fashion. So yes,

...