Yahoo Finance’s Jessica Smith joined Yahoo Finance Live to break down the latest stimulus check news as the likelihood of $2K stimulus checks have little chance going forward in the senate.

Video Transcript

ADAM SHAPIRO: Part of what's going on here, though, is waiting for news out of Washington. Jessica Smith joins us now with the latest on what's going on in regards to the $2,000 potential stimulus check, COVID, and much more. Jessica.

JESSICA SMITH: Yeah, the Senate is running out of time to increase those stimulus checks from $600 to $2,000. We are waiting to see what Majority Leader Mitch McConnell plans to do next. And just a moment ago, he started speaking on the Senate floor. So we will look to see what-- if he is giving any indication of what he plans to do. But he has introduced a new bill that would include $2,000 checks.

But it would also include a repeal of section 230, and it would establish an election fraud commission. Those are all priorities that President Trump has pushed for in recent days. But with all of those combined, that would have a really, really hard time to become law. Democrats and some Republicans would certainly oppose that.

Democrats have been blasting McConnell all day, saying he is essentially killing these $2,000 checks by wrapping all of these issues together. They say that the only way to actually get this done is for the Senate to vote on the bill that the House already passed. We heard from Speaker Pelosi earlier today. Here's what she had to say about Senate Republicans and Majority Leader McConnell. Let's watch.

NANCY PELOSI: In blocking it, they are in denial of the hardship that the American people are experiencing now-- healthwise, financially, and every way. Their lives and livelihood, in many cases, are on the brink. So they're in denial of that need.

JESSICA SMITH: So another issue in play here is the override of President Trump's veto of the annual defense bill, the NDAA. The Senate is set to have procedural votes on that later this evening. But we don't expect the final vote to happen until Friday or Saturday. And the reason behind that is, again, the stimulus checks. There's a group of senators who has been delaying this process in order to try and get a vote on those $2,000 checks. Again, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell speaking on the Senate floor. We'll to watch and see if he has said anything to give us any clue of what he plans to do next. But all of this has to get done by Sunday.

- And Jess, are we getting any indication that Mitch McConnell and other Republicans are feeling pressure because of the Georgia Senate races that are coming up to somehow try to still get the $2,000 stimulus checks passed?

JESSICA SMITH: Well, we have seen both of those candidates, both of those Republican senators who are trying to keep their seats, come out and say they do support the $2,000 checks. That's something that we have heard from some Democratic lawmakers, saying by voting on this bill or putting this bill out there, McConnell can at least say, hey, I tried to do these $2,000 checks. But as Democrats put it, he's including poison pills in that package. So it couldn't actually go forward.

But we will see if he ends up taking up the House-passed bill. That's still a possibility at this point. But we'll just have to wait and see what happens.