1) Fox is told a counter offer has been made to the coronavirus plan put out by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) over the weekend.

2) However, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said Senate Republicans couldn’t accept anything close to $2.2 trillion – which seems to be Pelosi’s floor. Fox is told Pelosi and House Democrats would have to come down significantly with their price tag.

3) But, that is a problem for Democrats because they would start to lose too many votes on their own side. So what does this mean? The sides are talking in earnest…which is a good thing. They are talking in person…which is even better. But Rubik’s Cube still doesn’t quite work.

4) That said, it was natural to see a flurry of activity at this stage because tens of thousands of jobs hang in the balance on October 1.

5) Republicans want to save those jobs, but not spend too much doing it. Democrats want to save those jobs, but demand just a bigger price tag and priorities like state and local assistance which isn’t flying with most Republicans.

6) Not ruling anything out. But the calendar and the threat of those major job losses – plus the airline industry in the of the administration and lawmakers is what jumpstarted these conversations.

Where does this leave us?

The same place we’ve been since May: at an impasse.