The Treasury is upping its offer to Democrats to pass a new stimulus bill including $1,200 direct payments, report says

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.

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• The Treasury upped its offer on coronavirus stimulus spending by some $100 billion as it continues negotiations with Democrats, Roll Call reported.
• It reported that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin offered a $1.62 trillion package when talking with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday.
• They didn't reach a deal Wednesday, but committed to keep trying. But even if they do strike a deal, it could still struggle to make it through Congress.
• The two parties have been in a standoff as Democrats seek to secure much more spending than Republicans.
• One source of agreement is that both Mnuchin and Pelosi want another round of $1,200 checks to be sent to Americans.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

The Treasury is increasing the amount of money it would support for a new stimulus bill as it continued to negotiate with Democrats, Roll Call reported.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin offered a $1.62 trillion package in his Wednesday talks with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the report said.

The increased offer is said to include more money for education and state and local governments than before.

Pelosi and Mnuchin met for 90 minutes without striking a deal. But after, both were hopeful of continuing negotiations and reaching some kind of agreement.

One issue which is not in question: both sides said they support another round of $1,200 direct payment checks.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.

Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

This week has been the first major negotiation on a coronavirus stimulus since talks last collapsed in August.

The parties have been trying to find common ground, with Democrats seeking a more expansive package: they have proposed spending $2.2 trillion. Republicans have argued for a far smaller package.

After meeting Pelosi, Mnuchin told Fox Business that he would aim for somewhere between $2.2 trillion and an earlier offer of around $1 trillion.

"We're not going to do a $2.2 trillion deal," he said.

Mnuchin said President Donald Trump "instructed us to come up significantly, so we have come up from the trillion-dollar deal that we were working on earlier."

He said the White House proposal is in the "neighborhood" of $1.5 trillion.

Roll Call said the following measures were in the latest version of the Treasury offer. The details have not been confirmed publicly, or by other news outlets.

• Direct payments of $1,200 for adults and $500 for dependents, which Democrats had signaled support for.
• $250 billion for state and local governments, ($186 billion less than Democrats proposed, but $100 billion more than in the White House's previous offer).
• $150 billion for education (Democrats want $225 billion).
• $400 per week in unemployment insurance ($200 less than Democrats proposed, but $100 than Senate Republicans proposed).
•  $75 billion for COVID-19 testing and tracing (This meets Democrats' demand, while Republicans had offered $16 billion).
• $175 billion for healthcare (Democrats had proposed $249 billion for the Department of Health and Human Services).
• $10 billion for the US Postal Service (Democrats had proposed $25 billion, and then dropped it to $15 billion).
• $160 billion for the Paycheck Protection Program.
• Nearly $120 billion for businesses like restaurants and entertainment venues.
• $20 billion for farmers and ranchers.

Negotiations are underway

It is not clear whether Senate Republicans would support an expensive proposal.

The White House and Senate Republicans had proposed a $1 trillion plan in the summer, and in September they floated a "skinny" plan, worth $500 billion.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell recently called $2.2 trillion an "outlandish" request. He also dismissed the idea of getting a deal through Congress before the November 3 when talking to reporters after Pelosi and Mnuchin's meeting on Wednesday, The Hill reported.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

Caroline Brehman/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

The source who outlined Mnuchin's proposal to Roll Call suggested that McConnell may consider the latest proposal viable, but a spokesman for McConnell denied this.

Democrats have not yet voted on their $2.2 trillion plan, delaying it until at least Thursday to see what the outcome of talks between Pelosi and Mnuchin are.

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