Congress and White House negotiators on Monday said they had made progress in talks on a new coronavirus relief bill, though the administration said President Donald Trump could act alone if no deal is reached.

“We're making some progress on certain issues, moving closer together,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer told reporters after Monday's talks.

Schumer, House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows spent about two hours in talks on Capitol Hill.

Congressional Democrats and Republicans remain far apart on next moves, with Democrats standing behind a $3 trillion plan that passed the House in May and Republicans raising concerns over their own $1 trillion proposal laid out by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell last week.

But they work alone behind closed doors to ensure a bipartisan agreement is actually not reached,” he said on the Senate floor.

After passing more than $3 trillion in relief legislation early in the crisis, Congress last week missed the Friday deadline to extend the enhanced unemployment payments that have played a key role in propping up the U.S.

Mnuchin and Meadows have taken the Republican lead in talks since McConnell's plan last week met immediate resistance from some of his fellow Senate Republicans.

With a final deal still in doubt, the White House is seriously considering unilateral action to defer worker payments on payroll taxes, Stephen Moore, a member of Mr.

“The president is always considering executive action in the absence of congressional leadership,” White House adviser Kellyanne Conway said when asked about possible unilateral action.

The extension of enhanced federal unemployment benefits has proved to be a major stumbling block in the talks, and a top Federal Reserve official warned that failure to secure some form of extension would result in a weaker economy.

But Democrats have rejected the idea, and a source familiar with the negotiations said last week the White House had indicated it could go along with a bill that did not include the liability measure.

Pelosi told CNN she would not go along with Republican proposals to slash the weekly $600 unemployment benefit.

The White House and congressional Republicans want to trim the weekly jobless aid, and have rejected as too costly the state and local assistance package that was included in legislation passed by the Democratic-led House in May.

Republicans favoring a reduction in the unemployment aid have said it is a disincentive for people to go back to work.

However, Dallas Federal Reserve Bank President Robert Kaplan told Bloomberg TV on Monday that economic data does not show the $600-a-week benefit hurts the overall job market.

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