U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi speaks during a press conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., the United States, on Oct. 9, 2020. (Photo by Ting Shen/Xinhua)

"Decisions must be made by the White House in order to demonstrate that the Administration is serious about reaching a bipartisan agreement that provides for Americans with the greatest needs during the pandemic," says Drew Hammill.

WASHINGTON, Oct. 18  -- U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Sunday that White House and congressional lawmakers must reach an agreement in 48 hours if they want to pass a new COVID-19 relief package before the presidential election in November.

"The 48 only relates to if we want to get it done before the election, which we do," Pelosi said in an interview with ABC News.

"We're saying to them, we have to freeze the design on some of these things. Are we going with it or not and what is the language? I'm optimistic because, again, we've been back and forth on all of this," she said.

Asked about whether Americans are going to get pandemic relief before Nov. 3 Election Day, Pelosi said that depends on the Trump administration. "The fact is that we cannot -- the heart of the matter is to stop the spread of the virus," she said.