Yahoo Finance's Brian Sozzi, Alexis Christoforous, and Rick Newman discuss House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's efforts to rally support for the coronavirus relief package.

Video Transcript

BRIAN SOZZI: All right. Welcome back to The First Trade. The House is set to vote today on a new $3 trillion relief plan. That includes a trillion dollars for states and more direct payments to Americans. But some House Democrats are balking. And Senate Republicans have already said no. Yahoo Finance Here columnist Rick Newman is here with us now. Rick, stimulus checks, how likely are they?

RICK NEWMAN: I'll give it 50-50. They are in this democratic bill. There's another set of $1,200 checks plus some more checks based on dependents. A lot of other things in this bill very generous, examples are more generous unemployment benefits that go all the way through January of next year. They-- that starts to look like temporary universal basic income, just a government pay-out to people.

Tons of aid for states and cities. There are health care extensions. Government funded health care for people who lost-- who may have lost their health care when they lost their job. The bill would also repeal that $10,000 limit on state and local tax deductions. So you pointed out this is unlikely to pass.

Because Republicans in the Senate, there's no way they're going to go along with a lot of this. But two things to take away from this Brian. First of all, Nancy Pelosi, the House Speaker, she's trying to generate momentum for another big stimulus bill. She wants to publicize this and let voters put pressure on Congress to do more rather than less.

And second, this is a glimpse into what democratic priorities might be if Joe Biden wins the White House and Democrats take control of the Senate. If that were to happen, you might see parts of this bill actually pass in 2021.

ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: You know, Rick, we had Kristina Hooper on from Invesco a little earlier. And she said that we desperately need more fiscal stimulus to help the average consumer. We now have about 23 million people applying for unemployment benefits in this country.

What do you think about-- she thought maybe the government might come up with a way to give people a check every month, the way we're seeing in other parts of the world. Do you think that would ever be considered and actually happen?

RICK NEWMAN: Well, not as long as Democrats, excuse me, as Republicans control the Senate. But even Mitch McConnell, the Senate Majority Leader Republican, said yes, there probably will be another stimulus bill. What the Democrats are doing, I mean, if you kind of take the democratic plan we have out there now that they're going to vote on today.

If that's sort of the left word limit on how much you might get, focus on the aid to the unemployed, so that is basically a government check to the unemployed every month on a temporary basis. So that is-- that is kind of like universal basic income but not for people who are working.

That gets problematic. Because I'm already hearing some people saying, look, I'm-- I'm working. And I'm getting less money from the government than people who are not working. And they're actually getting an incentive to not work. That's one of the problems here. And that's one of the things that Republicans are pushing back on.

But we are going to see some kind of big fourth or maybe it's the fifth by now I'm losing count stimulus bill. But it might be a couple of months.

ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: Do you think we might see something in the way of tax cuts for businesses and, or individuals in lieu of another stimulus check? Because let's remember, President Trump trying to get re-elected here in November. What's going to play best with his constituents and also perhaps bring over some people who are on the fence about Trump right now?

RICK NEWMAN: Yeah, Trump wants a payroll tax cut. Some other Republicans want to cut taxes on businesses. I don't think this is likely to happen for a couple of reasons. First of all, it doesn't help unemployed people to cut their taxes if they don't have income. So if you're really trying to help the people who need it most, that's not the way to do it.

And second, I just don't think the Democratic House is going to sign off on tax cuts. Nancy Pelosi knows what she's doing. And she's going to get a lot of what she wants in whatever the final bill is here.

BRIAN SOZZI: All right leave it-- let's leave it there. Rick Newman, thanks so much.

RICK NEWMAN: Bye guys.