Nancy Pelosi opens the door for stimulus negotiations to continue after Christmas

• House Speaker Nancy Pelosi suggested on Thursday that stimulus negotiations could stretch on after Christmas if necessary.
• "If we need more time, then we take more time. But we have to have a bill, and we cannot go home without it," Pelosi said.
• Republicans and Democrats are struggling to reach a deal on pandemic relief, and talks have stalled this week.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi suggested on Thursday that negotiations on a federal rescue package could stretch into late December if necessary.

"If we need more time, then we take more time. But we have to have a bill, and we cannot go home without it," Pelosi said at a press conference, later adding, "We've been here after Christmas, you know."

However, the California Democrat said it was preferable to pass emergency spending legislation before December 18, set to be the new government-funding deadline. The House on Wednesday approved a one-week spending extension until then, and the Senate is expected to follow suit.

Both Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell have said they want to attach a pandemic relief bill to a broader omnibus package that would fund the government into next year. But negotiators are still split on numerous policy disagreements, The Washington Post reported on Monday.

"In order to have the COVID [relief] added to an omnibus, you have to have an omnibus, so we're working dual tracks on that," Pelosi said. "I would hope that it would honor the December 18 deadline, but we can't go before the package is ready and the votes are there, as well as the fact that people do want to get home for the holidays, such as that is."

If the relief talks in Congress drag on for several more weeks, some federal programs assisting millions of people could expire, raising the specter of a financial disaster for many people.

About 12 million people could face a total loss of jobless aid the day after Christmas if Congress fails to renew an unemployment program providing benefits to gig workers, along with another measure extending state benefits for people who have already exhausted them.

On top of that, an eviction moratorium is set to expire on December 31, and millions of people could face losing their homes if it's not extended. The program did not attach any financial relief for people who must make up for missed payments.

The economy is demonstrating new signs of weakness. About 1.4 million people filed new unemployment claims last week, the Labor Department said on Thursday, a notable increase from the previous week. The figure combines state unemployment claims and those filed under the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program for gig workers and contractors.

Republicans and Democrats once again appear deadlocked on the scope and size of another economic aid package. Negotiations among a bipartisan group of senators on a $908 billion plan have continued for the past week; they've sought to turn a one-page plan into a legislative package Congress can pass and send to President Donald Trump for his signature.

A summary of the group's plan released Wednesday indicated it had not resolved major differences on state aid and a liability shield for companies from virus-related lawsuits, two fiercely contested issues.

Democrats are seeking to include state aid, which Republicans have resisted. Republicans have pressed for the liability shield, which Democrats argue would jeopardize workers' safety by making it harder for them to sue employers over dangerous working conditions.