Christ Yoder
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A final deal may also include another round of direct payments, with Senator John Thune (RS.D.) suggesting to reporters that these checks would cost between $ 600 and $ 700 for each American.
Two provisions that shouldn’t be in the deal are the most controversial: $ 160 billion for state and local governments, which was requested by Democrats, and a GOP-backed proposal to protect employers from related lawsuits. to COVID-19. by workers who fall ill.
Top Congressional leaders met late Tuesday night, to negotiate the details of a deal that is expected to reflect much of a $ 900 billion proposal that a bipartisan group of lawmakers tabled earlier this month -this.
This proposition called, among other provisions, for the extension of emergency unemployment benefits; protection against evictions; suspension of student loan payments; additional loans for small businesses; and additional funding for food aid, childcare support and coronavirus testing centers and vaccine distribution.
The economic relief would potentially accompany an interim spending bill that would prevent a government shutdown on Friday.
“We have made significant progress towards developing a targeted pandemic relief plan that would be able to pass both houses with bipartisan majorities,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said. (R-Ky.), Of Tuesday night’s bargaining session, adding that congressional leaders “are going to keep working until we do.”
“It is not yet a done deal, but we are very close,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (DN.Y.) said Wednesday morning.
As the pandemic rages this year, more than 306,000 Americans have died and nearly 17 million have tested positive for COVID-19.
Without an extension of unemployment benefits, some 12 million people are expected to stop receiving aid checks at the end of the month, and millions could be evicted when this protection expires.
The Trump administration has extended the suspension of student loan payments, although this relief only extends until January.
A coronavirus relief bill has not been passed by both houses of Congress since $ 2.2 trillion CARES Act end of March. The Democratic-controlled US House of Representatives has approved several additional relief bills, but the GOP-controlled Senate has not passed these major pandemic assistance measures or measures since spring.
President-elect Joe Biden described the emerging consensus on Capitol Hill around another COVID relief plan as “encouraging,” but only a “down payment” on aid that needs to be approved.
Biden later told a virtual meeting of governors that the deal was “not likely to address the two contentious issues close to my heart, state and local funding and the other to deal with liability insurance.”
Several Democratic senators have also said they will continue to push for more support for state and local governments.
“There was nothing magical about Dec. 31. Almost all of these states have exercises from July 1 to June 30,” Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) Told reporters on Wednesday, adding that the proposals under discussion would resolve the most urgent problems. .
