at 10:00, a discussion about whether college athletes should be played -- should be paid. and a discussion at 2:00 on algorithms regarding competition. senate areand both in today as -- we are joined by bloomberg congressional reporter erik wasson. first on the status of the new coronavirus relief legislation, does congress returning do anything to open up negotiations? caller: -- guest: there is a 90% chance they do not get anything done. at the house coming back offers a slim chance. we are hearing from moderate members, like the chairman of the budget committee who want to ee a vote on a two dollars --

$2 trillion package. schumer and nancy pelosi $2.2talked about aa trillion package. leadership is not doing that. my colleague and i have a story about a less than 1% chance of that happening. we will see water it's in the room talking, but at this point incentives are not good for each party. senate republicans voted last week. many feel there is cover now for their vulnerable moderates like susan collins of maine.

toy can go home if they have without a deal. democrats are feeling like they have a strong hand. they have pushed for virus relief into they have not gotten it. we are probably heading back to october, seeing how back -- host: what do we know about any meetings set this week from capitol hill? guest: nothing is really scheduled. between a relationship steven mnuchin and nancy pelosi. they have been able to do deals in the past. there was a debt ceiling deal. mnuchin was able to finesse a deal with nancy pelosi. they were attempting to do another deal here but there is a complicating factor, mark meadows. he is a strong deficit hawk,

someone who is seen as being tough as negotiating -- tough to negotiate with. he has met on the sidelines with the problem solvers caucus, 48 members from both sides of the aisle. they are working on a $1.5 but the proposal, problem solvers caucus doesn't have a good track record of solving problems. it would be interesting to see steven mnuchin in the house on september 1. perhaps that is where the deal lies. there appears to be a stare off over state aid. run byovernments democratic governors want a big bailout for past profligate spending and even with

guardrails in there to prevent pensions, -- as long as democrats continue to demand money for state and local governments, a deal will remain elusive. joining us asson we discussed the fall agenda on capitol hill before members election day. your colleagueon houseinsession. item is -- remind viewers where we are on a government spending deal. thet: the fiscal year for

ends this month. as has become habit, the government and congress are not ready to enact a full year budget as some people call it. under the law, there are supposed to be 12 a new appropriations bills, funding everything from the fbi to the hhs. -- onhas to be a bill in october 1. there will be a continuing resolution. it is a stopgap bill that says everything in place will not expire on october 1. the house has passed -- there is nothing in the pipeline to get enacted at this point. how long will that continued resolution go for? we think it will go until september. that would make sense since the

senate may change hands. for --s little incentive "i'll kick this football into next year when i may not have the gavel." i hear stuff on the hill saying " what if trump loses the election? will he pout? forf he wins, will he push border wall funding?" we are seeing -- i don't think democrats have a strong hand as far as pushing into next year. there are some small things called anomalies, small changes and tweaks to spending to extend the current situation. richard shelby tells us he wants that very clean. very few provisions.

and means crucially they will not put the virus relief package point.r as a negotiating once that was announced, a lot of experts in town, former has beenrector who around, he said once that was taken off, the deadline is gone. congress does not work on :00, clock, it works on a calendar. if they do not feel a sense of urgency, it is easy to fall back into entrenched partisan warfare and nothing gets done. that bill will get past, it will be clean. stimulus is out of it and not going very far at all. host: government funding and

potential stimulus bill, the two most high-profile pieces of legislation. viewers to join the conversation if you have questions about congresses fall legislative agenda. democrats.000 for (202) 748-8001 for republicans. nancy pelosi can go to the hair shop to get her hair fixed, but she can't take care american -- the american people. do nott want them, i need them. i hope they lose and we get rid of them, maxine waters and all of them. houston, texas, republican.

tooer: too big to fail and small to save. why are we bailing out banks and buying up junk bonds as we speak . explain that to the american people. i think we spent $7 trillion in buybacks. pass the cares act, stocks go up. people need to spend money. don't have any money, then what? we need relief from congress. host: do you think this may be a sense of what members would go home to hear if they do not get ifs done before november or they do get it done and it is $3 billion or $2 billion? it is not about billions, it is about trillions.

it is not kitchen table amount of -- amounts of money we are talking about here. trillion,the $2 trump's signature achievement passed early on in the administration. there are signs that corporate tax breaks instead of being used to hire more workers were used for stock buybacks. there were talk -- was talk that that bill was -- would pay for has added a lot to the deficit. much onan spend that basically tax breaks for rich, corporate stock ceos, we should do more for ordinary people." the first caller from oklahoma, the big sticking point is state and local governments.

oklahoma is pretty lean as far as their public-sector salaries and obligations and those who have been more diligent do not want money funneled to more profligate states. we are one country, one union into the fact that new york city does well and drives a lot of the economy and up helping oklahoma by driving demand. there.s a back and forth a compromise may be available at the $500 billion level. there is talk of splitting the baby here. is a tough sticking point in the sense that we have big public-sector unions driving the democratic side and an unwillingness by a lot of conservatives to play ball on that. host: this is bonnie in maryland. you are up next. caller: why should people not

working get extra money when my son had to work? tech,e is pharmaceutical the other does construction. they are in high risk. it -- i point -- my son am 76. my son stays with me. he pays my rent. i got nothing in the stimulus. my youngest son, his girlfriend, his sister all got stimulus. collateral damage. what about us? go to a senior house. it is is sad. something has to be done to help the seniors. checks andimulus unemployment benefits. guest: this is an interesting

point. as far as unemployment benefits, if you are refusing a job, you are not eligible for unemployment benefits as if you lost your job through no fault of your own. there are not really checkups in the covid area -- era if someone is doing this kind of fraud. benefits have been continued at $300 a week using emergency powers by the president from emergency relief funds, but that will run out shortly. ,here are proposals in congress republicans are looking at $300 a week until december, democrats talking about reviving $600 a week until the new year. a week provides a

disincentive to work. there are some studies that say that is not true. there are arguments in some areas that it is creating a disincentive. calibrating that to maximize growth is difficult. many seniors did receive a stimulus check if you filed your taxes and are not claimed as a dependent. my mother got one. butepends on the situation, point taken. seniors are vulnerable and have been hit hard by this pandemic. arizona.che junction, this is stu. caller: is congress going to do anything about the lawsuit, the attorney general of colorado has filed a lawsuit against dejoy for mailing out millions of

postcards telling colorado citizens that they had to a mail-inr request ballot, which they do not have to do and i am wondering if congress will do something to alleviate the situation. -- i readat happened about it online at bloomberg this morning. i think you for your cooperation -- thank you for your cooperation. at odds withss is louis dejoy, the postmaster even ifwho is in there trump does not win reelection. he is appointed by an independent board of governors been stocked by trump appointees. he is under multiple investigations by house of representatives looking into his

logistics companies, his decisions up and down the line from removing male sorters and ending overtime pay -- mail sorters and ending overtime pay. congress acted on aps of legislation to provide $25 billion to help -- on a piece of legislation to provide $25 billion to help the post office. this is a recent development. congress takes a while to react. i have not yet seen the chairman of the dutch chairwoman of the committee react. not yetent -- i have seen the chairwoman of the committee react. there is obviously a lot

of posturing going on, but they want to make the stimulus package go forward close to christmas so they have a christmas shopping season because if they do not then we will really be in trouble. i look forward to them doing something like that so they can take big bows. the grinches that saved christmas. going forward for it to through sometime around christmas. history shows that the first one really saved the country and not to do so again when they really needed going into the flu and covid season would be ludicrous. hopefully cooler heads will prevail. host: i have not -- guest: i have not heard that up on the hell about waiting until the christmas season. about waitingll

until the christmas season. jay powell talked about needing to do at least $1 trillion to keep things sailing smoothly. we have seen some indicators showing a nascent recovery. we have seen indications of a slowing in demand. retail numbers will come out shortly showing where we are headed. you will see some strong gdp numbers year-over-year but a lot of that has to do with rebounds from a severe construction -- year.ction earlier in the i talked to marco rubio last week and he said a lot of small businesses will fail. seeing that ndc. my favorite jazz club has it d.c..red per -- that in my favorite jazz club has shuttered permanently.

we are seeing partisan gridlock, a sense of limning the other side. that is -- a sense of blaming the other side. stimulus gets bumped until after the election, what actually gets done in this fall legislative sprint before the election? bill. there is a highway september 30, funding for a lot of our highway and road networks expires. thee is hope that trump and democrats would come together on infrastructure. this is something they both really want to see happen. -- andrastructure infrastructure bill has a lot in it, but the trump administration has not been able to come together on a deal.

a sticking point is how do you pay for it. conservative organizations like the chamber of commerce recognize a gas tax is probably the solution. it has not been raised in many decades. to doecognize they have something there to stabilize the highway trust fund. chairman defazio in the house and brosseau in the senate have agreed on an extension. we will see congress come up with a one-year extension most likely. there is an interesting development on the issue of climate change. we saw a bipartisan deal emerge in the senate on hydro fluorocarbon's, that is refrigerator emissions that have

eaten a hole in the atmosphere. the u.s. was lagging on that a bit and we saw a republicans and democrats come together. this is part of a big energy package that has been installed for a while. it is the brainchild of lisa murkowski and there is a sense that may be will move a little bit. the senate wants to keep its lanes open for a possible senate deal. precious with is rogue members of the majority filibustering and delaying things. the senate will be here until october 11 or so. many of us think that given the vulnerability of republicans who are up for election like cory gardner, tom telus, they will tillis, they will

leave early. we are also seeing a controversial bill about marijuana decriminalization. this is important for senate.ives in the they want to see this nationwide rollback, but we see moderates saying republicans have pointed act wend -- in our cares had marijuana provisions and to they had us saying we care more about marijuana than the economy. we are seeing back and forth hind the scenes on whether congress should vote -- behind the scenes on whether congress should vote or not. host: we have time for two more calls. caller: i don't know how you expect anything to get done anyway in washington. all we have our crooks and

politicians in the government. dictator orthe annabe dictator, he is such genius he does not know his a from a hole in the ground. fit in a call from buie, maryland. theer: i am amazed that first two colors were republicans calling in to complain about what the government is not doing for way that people when senator mcconnell is the one holding up everything. the house passed another relief package and may still sitting on mcconnell's desk. another thing i would like to bring up -- republicans are always complaining about the deficit. "we don't have money for this or that." attorney general barr is going to defend trump in his

defamation of character lawsuit. we the people have to pay for that. come on, republicans, don't you know what is going on? we are being ripped off by the grifter in chief in the white house. will give wasson, i you the last minute and a half. guest: wire are deficits important when a democrat is in congress's ash why are deficits -- why are deficits important when a democrat is in congress? we have not heard much of it billrepublicans with a tax being passed on till this latest stimulus. one thing i am seeing is republicans in the senate are looking at 2024 already. who will be the standardbearer? we are seeing people like tom cotton, ted holly, who will most

likely run for president and be up there in the numbers looking to establish their credentials on the deficit. leftward fromft the democrats. during the obama administration, we did not see the democrats try to do a deficit deal and reign in entitlement spending. that has gone out the window. that from joee biden, especially with support -- pressure from bernie sanders and his supporters who don't think the deficit matters. low inflation has surprised a lot of experts who expected it. when the debt got to 100 percent of the economy, we would be in a crisis, that has not happened. a lot of our understanding is being debated but i will make

this prediction -- if joe biden wins we will see a major effort by republicans to combat deficit spending i that president. host: erik wasson helping us with everything. come back again, erik wasson. journal.'s washington every day we are taking your calls live on the air on the news of the day and we will discuss policy issues that impact you. i out of for an presidential historian frank shirley will join us to discuss campaign 2020. magazine yorker reporter will discuss the frontline documentary, "policing the police, 2020." be sure to join the discussion with your phone calls, texts, and tweets. trump participated

in a briefing with california governor newsom on the california wildfires. state and local officials briefed the president. california natural resources secretary implored president trump to consider the impact of climate change. this is 25 minutes. pres. trump: support the people of california and washington and stayed in touch with declaring your declaration, we have declarations. we wanted it fast. i want to thank the fema people. really appreciate them, fantastic. they've been fantastic.