$908B bipartisan COVID-19 relief bill on horizon

WASHINGTON — A $908 billion proposal for another round of COVID-19 aid is gaining traction on Capitol Hill in a bipartisan bill that contains additional small business loans, unemployment benefits and funding for schools, hospitals, long-term care facilities and vaccine distribution.

A group of 11 senators placed into a separate bill the two issues of strongest disagreement — temporary liability protections for businesses and additional funding for state and local governments — meaning they either succeed or fail together.

The lawmakers, including Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, and Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., touted the bills as necessary to get the country through the next three months as COVID-19 cases surge and the first vaccinations reach health care workers and other vulnerable people. The country marked a grim milestone of 300,000 COVID- 19 deaths this week.

“The Senate should not adjourn until we have passed a new COVID-19 package to provide the relief Americans need,” Mr. Portman said Monday.

Mr. Manchin added that the bills “ensure our health care crisis doesn’t become an economic catastrophe” and that “we’re not going home for Christmas until this gets done.”

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, another member of the group, called the legislation a “Christmas miracle.”

Congress has failed to reach a deal even as infections have spiked, business activity has slowed and jobless claims have risen throughout the autumn. Congress faces a hard deadline after lawmakers approved a oneweek government spending bill that expires Friday.

Since Congress quickly authorized nearly $3 trillion in aid in March as the pandemic was unfolding, talks between House Democrats, Senate Republicans and the Trump administration

have gridlocked.

In May, the House approved a $3.3 trillion package, called the Heroes Act, and approved a more targeted $2.2 trillion version in September. Those bills have not been taken up in the Republican-controlled Senate, where the majority leader, Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has preferred a $500 billion package and not yet agreed to endorse a larger amount.

Republicans including Sen. Pat Toomey, R- Pa. were leading the charge over the spring and summer to reopen businesses with the hope that an economic recovery would replace the need for more government spending. Democrats have called for additional spending to bolster safety net programs, obtain personal protective equipment and strengthen local services.

Mr. Portman’s bipartisan proposal included two bills fully unveiled on Monday but yet to be introduced in Congress.

The first bill, the Bipartisan Emergency COVID Relief Act of 2020, contains another $ 300 billion for small businesses, including trade associations, and a simplified loan forgiveness process for loans under $150,000. It includes $35 billion for health providers, $ 13 billion for food stamp recipients, $25 billion in emergency rental assistance and extension of the eviction moratorium through Jan. 31. Another $ 16 billion would go to

COVID-19 vaccine distribution.

The second bill, the Bipartisan State and Local Support and Small Business Protection Act of 2020, offers $160 billion for state and local governments while protecting businesses from “meritless” lawsuits. Businesses would not be liable under federal employment law “in COVID-19 exposure cases or change in working conditions related to COVID-19 if the employer was trying to conform to public health standards and guidance,” the bill’s fact sheet stated.

In a call with reporters Tuesday, Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., said he believed lawmakers would reach some agreement but that “it remains to be seen how that comes together.”

“We finally have some measure of help,” Mr. Casey said.

If there is a vote on the larger aid bill, he said, “that would probably pass” by the end of the week as part of a government spending bill.

The separate bill on funding for governments, which Republicans fiercely oppose, and liability protections, which Democrats fiercely oppose, could face a tougher battle.

Mr. Toomey said in a statement last week said the Senate would debate those two provisions but acknowledged there was “little bipartisan agreement.”

“This should not stop the Senate from passing a bill where Republicans and Democrats largely agree,” Mr. Toomey said Monday. His spokesman said Tuesday the senator had no further comment on the two measures.

Trade associations have praised the bipartisan measures. Mr. Portman’s measure includes $2 billion for long-term care providers, which facility operators have sorely needed for months as COVID-19 disproportionately affects nursing home residents.

“While the vaccine is a significant turning point, the fight is not over,” the American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living said Tuesday. They estimated it will take months for all residents and staff members to receive the necessary two doses to receive full protection from the virus.

Joining Mr. Casey on the call with reporters was Victoria Murrell, a 32-year-old Westmoreland County resident who graduated this week from Seton Hill

University in Greensburg with a bachelor’s degree in human resource management.

Ms. Murrell, a single mother raising a 12-yearold daughter, has worked as a waitress for nearly a decade and would normally be ineligible for unemployment benefits that exclude part-time workers. She qualified for pandemic unemployment benefits under relaxed rules passed by Congress in March — benefits that are set to expire this month.

“If it wasn’t for the pandemic unemployment, I don’t know what I would’ve done,” she said. “And here we are again. My job is closed down.”

“COVID has affected more people than what we even realize, especially for the ones of us who are on our own and you’re used to living paycheck to paycheck,” Ms. Murrell said. When the paycheck doesn’t arrive, “you have to ask yourself, how am I going to put food on my table now for my child now? What are the next steps? Where do I go from here?”

Even if a bill passed this week, Mr. Casey emphasized the package would cover costs, at most, through the beginning of March.

“The likelihood of passage does not necessarily line up with the gravity of the problem,” Mr. Casey said. “This should not be considered the last word on COVID-19.”

“If it wasn’t for the pandemic unemployment, I don’t know what I would’ve done. And here we are again. My job is closed down.”

— Victoria Murrell, a single mother and waitress from Westmoreland County