Yahoo Finance’s Julie Hyman, Brian Sozzi, Myles Udland, and Rick Newman discuss the latest news in the the talks for a new COVID-19 stimulus.

Video Transcript

JULIE HYMAN: First, we want to start with what is going on on the stimulus front and whether, in fact, there is a more real chance this time around that we will be getting imminently some kind of stimulus deal. Our Rick Newman has been tracking that. We, I don't know, once bitten, twice shy, fool me once, I don't know. Whatever, whatever phrase you want to use. Are we really going to get stimulus this time around before we see the next Congress? What's the deal?

RICK NEWMAN: Be skeptical. I guess that's my way of thinking about it. So it does seem as if the two sides have made progress here. There is this so-called bipartisan agreement on a bill of around $900 billion, and the key thing that has changed here is the two Democratic leaders Nancy Pelosi in the House and Chuck Schumer in the Senate say they can accept this as a starting point, which I guess means they think this is in the ballpark, but the problem remains Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell just does not seem to support this bill.

He is sticking to his guns. He wants a smaller bill that's only around $500 billion. He does not want-- these are the these are the two kind of poison pill issues for Democrats. Mitch McConnell says he does not want that additional funding for states and cities, and he insists there must be liability protection for businesses, which Democrats are just not likely to sign onto. So even though they seem closer on the number, there's still reason to be skeptical they're going to get a deal here.

JULIE HYMAN: Rick, you know, I'm curious as more and more sort of mainstream Republicans have come out and acknowledged that, indeed, Joe Biden is the President-elect, legitimately so, and as we move past the sort of Trump era, what do these negotiations tell us about what things are going to be like in Washington between the two sides? Are we just going to see more of what we have seen over the past four years, and to be fair, the prior four years to that, or is there going to be any kind of re-establishment of ties, of openness, of cordiality for that matter?

RICK NEWMAN: I guess you could have cordiality, but that does not mean that much is going to get done through Congress, and we've talked about this a lot. Much rides on the outcome of those two Senate races in Georgia on January 5, and if Democrats can pull off wins in both of those races, they will have a one vote majority in the Senate, but that does not mean Democrats are going to be able to do whatever they want.

Democrats will still have a tough time getting their own legislation passed, because there are a couple of conservative Democrats who aren't going to sign on to everything, and for many votes, many laws, you still need 60 votes to get over the filibuster in the Senate. So we're just not going to see a lot, a lot getting done in Congress. There could be cooperation. Maybe Joe Biden as president will get along better with Mitch McConnell than Obama did.

Just, we're just not going to see much happen. Just to go back to the stimulus for a minute, I don't want to encourage complete despair on the lack of a deal. It is possible that we don't get a big deal, but we do get some continuation of parts of the stimulus bill, such as some of the unemployment aid. That could be extended on its own or as part of the spending bill that might happen next or has to happen next week actually, so we could see small pieces of legislation getting done, but these big deals are going to be tough.

JULIE HYMAN: Gotcha. Rick Newman, thank you very much.