This is Exchanges of Goldman Sachs where we discuss developments currently shaping markets, industries, and the global economy.

I'm Jake Stewart, Global Head of Corporate Communications here at the firm.

Today we're joined by one of our top public policy experts, Joe Wall, who works out of

our Office of Government Affairs

in Washington, D.C.

We'll talk to Joe about the latest

with the US stimulus package, where it stands today,

Monday, December 21st, what's including what's not, and other policies that investors are watching as we move into the new year and the new administration.

Joe, welcome back to the program.

Good morning.

Thanks for having.

So here on Monday morning, December 21st, we're just chatting.

There's a stimulus package that Congress has been scrambling to pass.

Apparently there's an agreement, but we haven't seen the language yet.

What do we know?

So yeah, last night, Sunday night at about 5.30 PM,

the deal was, you know, officially announced by both parties.

It is, you know know roughly 900 billion and it is

hitching a ride the stimulus in other words is hitching a ride on the end of

year government funding package which totals about 1.4 trillion which you know is separate but is the sort of action forcing events that push the negotiations forward.

So what we do know is that this obviously culminates six months of negotiations between the two parties that basically, you know, began an earnest in July and we had an August recess that prompted nothing. We then had obviously the pre-election period that prompted nothing and now we're here in the lame duck session which finally has resulted in a package.

To put in perspective it's been 269 days

...