Hi, I'm Naomi Shapen, and welcome to Axios Recap. I'm filling in for Dan this week. Today is

Monday, August 10th. The Dow is up, COVID cases in the U.S. are down, and we're focused on what

happens now in stimulus negotiations. As of Friday, August recess for Congress was scheduled to start. They hadn't reached

any kind of deal on the next stimulus package, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell basically

said that anyone who wanted to go home could go home. Some members of Congress stuck

around to keep negotiating with a promise that everyone would get 24

hours notice if there was a vote. That was somewhat confusing, but then over the weekend,

the stimulus situation got more complicated, as President Trump signed a combination of memorandums

and an executive order that covered four things, offering $400 a week in additional

unemployment benefits, putting a halt on evictions, deferring payroll taxes for some taxpayers,

and extending student loan relief. Most experts warn that Trump's actions are legally murky,

saying that they're an overreach of executive power, and if they do stand up in

court, implementing them could take months. So for families hoping for economic relief via

Trump's actions, especially as Congress continues to deliberate, best case scenario is they will

have to wait and see, and hope they don't owe back money next year from a potential

payroll tax deferral this year. Where does this leave Congress on stimulus negotiations? Did it

increase the pressure for a deal that would provide swifter, more legally sound relief? Or did it

release the pressure that Congress was under leading up to August recess? To find out what we might

see this week,

we're joined now by Washington Post White House economics reporter, Jeff Stein.

Thank you for joining us, Jeff. Let's start with how Congress left things on Friday.

They hadn't reached a deal. It sounds like some members left town. Where do things stand heading into this week?

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