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White House negotiators say Democrats on Capitol Hill appear to be relenting on their opposition to a nearly $2 trillion coronavirus stimulus package and that a deal seems to be close.

Vice President Mike Pence, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and other GOP leaders said issues are nearly resolved — sending the stock market soaring, with the Dow up about 1,500 points early Tuesday afternoon.

The legislation would send large direct checks to millions of Americans and provide hundreds of billions in loans to businesses struggling to survive shutdowns and drops in demand due to the virus that’s infected nearly 50,000 in the US.

“Last night I thought we were on the 5-yard line. Right now we’re on the 2,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said in a Senate floor speech. “Of the few outstanding issues, I don’t see any that can’t be overcome within the next few hours.”

The rosy projections followed partisan fury Monday when Democrats blocked an initial deal despite winning many concessions. Republican senators said they believed they had an agreement before Democrats changed their minds when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) unveiled a 1,400-page rival package including a grab bag of extraneous policies ranging from environmental reforms to same-day voter registration.

On Monday night, Senate Majority Whip John Thune (R-SD) said talks had “stalled out.”

The breakthrough follows a night of talks running past midnight. In negotiations, Senate Democrats focused on requests for oversight of a $500 billion loan program administered by the Treasury Department, which they called a “slush fund,” and pressed for more money for state and local governments.

The package blocked Monday had many other Democratic priorities, including a boost in hospital funds and a large addition for unemployment pay. Before Tuesday, Republicans said they were exasperated by an increasing number of new demands.

There was uniform optimism among White House leaders Tuesday morning, however.

Pence, the Trump administration’s point person on the pandemic, said Tuesday on Fox News, “Issues have arisen in the last two days but our White House team on the Hill says we’re really getting down to fine print, we’re hoping for a vote today.”

Mnuchin, the lead GOP negotiator, told reporters at the Capitol, “We’ve met with [Senate Majority Leader] Mitch McConnell and we’ve now met with Chuck Schumer. Again, we’re working through a small list of issues and everybody is turning around language.”

White House legislative affairs director Eric Ueland, a fixture in the talks, said, “We’re making progress and keep banging away, knocking down issues.”

Incoming White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, a North Carolina congressman, joined Mnuchin and Ueland. He said, “I’m optimistic that hopefully in the next few hours we will make substantial progress on the remaining issues.”

Negotiators came close before, however, and the time frame gradually stretched. McConnell (R-Ky.) laid out an initial GOP proposal Thursday, with hopes for a deal Friday and final vote Monday.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) told reporters Tuesday afternoon that a major unresolved issue remained how to structure aid to airlines. The initial GOP plan called for $58 billion in loans. But Rubio said there are concerns about how those funds would be repaid.

Rubio offered a word of caution to people anticipating a brisk resolution: “Two people can agree on something and then someone has to go write it up into legislative language and then someone looks at it and says, ‘That isn’t what I agreed to.'”

The new deal would be voted on Wednesday unless all senators agree to a vote by unanimous consent sometime Tuesday.

“We are not looking at things that are extraneous to this crisis,” Schumer insisted Tuesday.

Schumer said he believed the final package will include an “unemployment insurance on steroids” program that pays the full salary of furloughed workers for four months.

The package also is expected to include a program pushed by Republicans to send checks of up to $1,200 to each taxpayer, with amounts tapered down to $600 for low-income workers and retirees and phased out for people who earned between $75,000 and $99,000 in 2018. For each child, there would be a $500 tax rebate.

Two other coronavirus packages already are law. Last week, the Senate voted 90-8 for a deal crafted by Mnuchin and Pelosi to establish free COVID-19 testing, massively boost funds for states by increasing federal Medicaid payments and require many businesses to expand paid sick leave. It also included $1 billion in food aid and $1 billion in unemployment funds. In early March, Congress passed an $8.3 billion package funding medical supplies, vaccine research and government response efforts.