Mitch McConnell and Kevin McCarthy, who are Senate Majority Leader and House Minority Leader, publically vowed Saturday morning to refuse Democratic demands in the GOP’s push for more aid to small businesses.

“Republicans reject Democrats’ reckless threat to continue blocking job-saving funding unless we renegotiate unrelated programs which are not in similar peril,” McConnell and McCarthy said in a joint statement to the press.

Their statement, came a day after Democratic leaders said the Trump administration would begin bipartisan talks over the interim relief bill, indicating that an end to the deadlock remains far away.

On Thursday Republicans in the Senate attempted to pass an additional $250 billion for the Paycheck Protection Program, a small-business fund established in the $2 trillion rescue package that is projected to run out of money soon. Democrats in the Senate blocked the effort and sought approval for an alternative plan that would provide money for the small-business fund as well as additional funds for local governments and hospitals. That measure was rejected on the floor as well, by McConell.

“This will not be Congress’s last word on Covid-19, but this crucial program needs funding now,” McConnell and McCarthy said. “American workers cannot be used as political hostages.”

 Hogan and Cuomo warned that without funding, “states will have to confront the prospect of significant reductions to critically important services all across this country, hampering public health, the economic recovery, and — in turn — our collective effort to get people back to work.”

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi both spoke with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Friday and agreed to engage in bipartisan talks with House and Senate leadership.

In addition to extra money for hospitals and local governments, Democrats want to see some of the $250 billion in aid for small businesses directed to underserved communities.

Schumer said on Friday he saw “no reason why we can’t come to a bipartisan agreement by early next week.”

The Senate will assemble for a pro forma session Monday. But right now, another stalemate in the Senate seems most probable.