On Tuesday, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell testified before the Senate’s banking committee on COVID-19 economic relief, offering different outlooks on the economy and answering questions about what kind of aid is needed in the coming months.

The hearing was part of scheduled oversight of the CARES Act, which passed in March and came as states across the country impose new restrictions amid a worsening pandemic and as many relief programs are set to run out at the end of the year.

“As we have emphasized throughout the pandemic, the outlook for the economy is extraordinarily uncertain and will depend, in large part, on the success of efforts to keep the virus in check,” Chairman Powell said.

Powell said rising COVID cases will make a full economic recovery unlikely until people feel safe again, while Secretary Mnuchin emphasized ways the economy has bounced back thus far.

“America is in the midst of the fastest economic recovery from any crisis in U.S. history,” Mnuchin said, though he did acknowledge more, “targeted” relief is needed, a consensus among Republican leadership.

Both said there is a need for economic relief as a “bridge” over the difficult few months ahead, before a vaccine is widespread and the pandemic is more contained.

Sec. Mnuchin said he spoke with Republican lawmakers, including Sen. Mitch McConnell both Monday and Tuesday and with President Trump Tuesday morning. He said he would meet with Speaker Nancy Pelosi later in the day, though the bulk of that meeting would be devoted to discussing the government spending bill for fiscal year 2021.

Sec. Mnuchin also faced questions about his request for the Federal Reserve to return more than $400 billion allocated for emergency loans under the CARES Act.

Democratic senators criticized the move, including ranking member Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), who accused Sec. Mnuchin of trying to “sabotage the economy” before the end of the Trump administration.

“My decision not to extend these facilities was not an economic decision,” Mnuchin said, pointing to the fact that much of the CARES Act is set to end on Dec. 31. Mnuchin called on Congress to use the money and allocate it toward additional relief.

Republican senators defended the move, including Senator Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, who called the closing of loan facilities at the end of the year what “Congress clearly intended.”

Multiple senators on the committee called for additional COVID relief before Congress leaves for the holidays.

“I have never worked any place where I have heard more people, talking more loudly about the need for action with less action happening,” Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN) said.

Earlier Tuesday, a bipartisan group of lawmakers put forward a new stimulus proposal, proposing $908 billion dollars in aid to help struggling Americans and their businesses. The proposal offers a compromise between the $500 billion package proposed by Republican leaders and the $2.2 trillion HEROES Act, which passed the House earlier this year.

With the Senate back on Capitol Hill this week, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer have both called for relief as quickly as possible. 

But the two sides remain divided over the scope of the bill. Sen. McConnell said Democrats proposals have been an “all-or-nothing approach,” while Sen. Schumer called Republican priorities proposed so far a “narrow list.”