Negotiators near agreement on long-delayed COVID-19 aid bill
WASHINGTON » Congressional negotiators closed in Wednesday on a $900 billion COVID-19 economic relief package that would deliver additional help to businesses, $300 per week jobless checks, and $600 stimulus payments to most Americans. But there was no deal quite yet.
The long- delayed measure was coming together as Capitol Hill combatants finally fashioned difficult compromises, often at the expense of more ambitious Democratic wishes for the legislation, to complete the second major relief package of the pandemic.
A hoped-for announcement Wednesday failed to materialize as lawmakers across the spectrum hammered out details of the sprawling legislation and top negotiators continued to trade offers. But lawmakers briefed on the outlines of the aid bill freely shared them.
Parties embrace need
It’s the first significant legislative response to the pandemic since the landmark CARES Act in March, which delivered $1.8 trillion in aid and more generous jobless benefits and direct payments to individuals. Since then, Democrats have repeatedly called for ambitious further federal steps to provide relief and battle the pandemic, while Republicans have sought to more fully reopen the economy and to avoid padding the government’s $27 trillion debt.
President-elect Joe Biden is eager for an aid package to prop up the economy and deliver direct aid to the jobless and hungry, even though the package falls short of what Democrats
want. He called the emerging version “an important down payment” and promised more help next year.
Republicans, too, are anxious to approve some aid before going home for the year.
“We’re still close and we’re gonna get there,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky told reporters Wednesday evening as he left the Capitol. And during a Senate GOP lunchtime call a day earlier, party leaders stressed the importance of reaching an agreement before the upcoming Georgia Senate runoff election.
Some details
The details were still being worked out, but lawmakers in both parties said leaders had agreed on a topline total of about $900 billion, with direct payments of perhaps $600 to most Americans and a $300-perweek bonus federal unemployment benefit to partially replace a $600-per
week benefit that expired this summer. It also includes the renewal of extra weeks of state unemployment benefits for the long- term jobless. More than $300 billion in subsidies for business, including a second round of “paycheck protection” payments to especially hard-hit businesses, are locked in, as is $25 billion to help struggling renters with their payments and provide food aid and farm subsidies, and a $10 billion bailout for the Postal Service.
Swapping offers
Democrats acknowledged that the removal of a $160 billion- or-so aid package for state and local governments whose budgets have been thrown out of balance by the pandemic was a bitter loss.
“It’s heartbreaking for us,” said Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, whose state has big fiscal problems.
The emerging package was serving as a magnet
for adding on other items, and the two sides continued to swap offers. It was apparent that another temporary spending bill would be needed to prevent a government shutdown at midnight on Friday. That was likely to easily pass.
House lawmakers returned to Washington Wednesday in hopes of a vote soon on the broader package, which would combine the COVID-19 relief with a $1.4 trillion governmentwide funding bill and a host of other remaining congressional business, including extending expiring tax breaks and passing other unfinished legislation.
Negotiations intensified on Tuesday after months of futility. Before the election, with Democrats riding high in the polls, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi took a hard line for more aid. Now, McConnell is playing a strong hand after a better-thanexpected performance in the elections limited GOP losses in Senate races.