Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said Monday that while he thinks the country needs another coronavirus relief package, he’s not sure it will happen.

"We do need another bill and I'm hoping that this impasse will end soon,” McConnell said at an event in Kentucky, The Hill reported. But he also said that, “as of the moment, today, I can't tell you with certainty we're going to reach an agreement,” while noting that the coming elections will only make the negotiations more difficult.

Warnings on the lack of fiscal support. Economists have expressed concerns about the withdrawal of federal stimulus spending over the last few weeks, especially the abrupt end in July of the $600 per week payments Congress had provided to the unemployed. Ernie Tedeschi of Evercore ISI said Monday that by his calculations, total unemployment payments have dropped by about $15 billion per week since the enhanced benefits expired. “That's the equivalent of almost 4% of GDP,” he tweeted.

Analysts at the Peterson Institute for International Economics warned last week that the failure of lawmakers to agree on a new coronavirus relief package that renews expiring programs “threatens to undo the stimulus effect of the programs and exacerbate the economic damage from the lockdown.” Assuming no further federal assistance is provided, the analysts estimated that the recession would be deeper than otherwise, with “a loss of GDP of 4 to 5 percent, and an associated 4 to 5 percent increase in the unemployment rate.”

“US policymakers should at least maintain the earlier levels of income support to prevent further induced economic damage,” the analysts argued. “In the current depressed state of the economy, destimulation is a very poor policy choice.”

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