Congress approves stopgap funding
Bill averts shutdown, but aid still uncertain
WASHINGTON — Congress swiftly passed a two-day stopgap spending bill Friday night, averting a partial government shutdown and buying time for frustratingly slow endgame negotiations on an almost $1 trillion COVID-19 economic relief package.
The virus aid talks remain on track, both sides said, but closing out final disagreements is proving difficult.
The House passed the temporary funding bill by a 320-60 vote as lawmakers headed for a Sunday session. The Senate approved the bill by voice vote almost immediately afterward, sending it to President DonaldTrump.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said both sides remain intent on closing the deal, even as Democrats launched a concerted campaign to block an effort by Republicans to rein in emergency Federal Reserve lending powers. The Democrats said the GOP proposal would deprive Presidentelect Joe Biden of crucial tools to managethe economy.
It appeared unlikely that there would be a deal reached Friday night,lawmakers and aides said.
Democrats came out swinging at a key obstacle: a provision by conservative Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., that would close down more than $400 billion in potential Federal Reserve lending powers established
under a relief bill in March. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is shutting down the programs at the end of December, but Mr. Toomey’s language goes further, by barring the Fed from restarting the lending next year. Democrats say the provision would tie Mr. Biden’s hands andput the economy at risk.
“As we navigate through an unprecedented economic crisis, it is in the interests of the American people to maintain the Fed’s ability to respond quickly and forcefully,” said Biden economic adviser Brian Deese. “Undermining that authority could mean less lending to Main Street businesses, higher unemployment and greater economic pain across the nation.”
The key Fed programs at issue provided loans to small and midsized businesses and bought state and local government bonds, making it easier for those governments to borrow at a time when their finances are under pressurefrom the pandemic.
The Fed would need the support of the Treasury Department to restart the programs, which Mr. Biden’s treasury secretary nominee, former Fed chair Janet Yellen, would likely provide. Treasury could also provide funds to backstop those programs without congressional approval and could ease the lending requirements. That could encourage more lending under the programs, which have seen only limited use so far.
The battle obscured progress on other elements of the hoped-for agreement. After being bogged down for much of Thursday, negotiators turned more optimistic, though the complexity of finalizing the remaining issues drafting agreements in precise legislative form wasproving daunting.
The central elements appeared in place: more than $300 billion in aid to businesses; a $300-per-week bonus federal jobless benefit and renewal of soon-to-expire state benefits; $600 direct payments to individuals; vaccine distribution funds; and money for renters, schools, the Postal Service and people needingfood aid.
House lawmakers were told they wouldn’t have to report to work Saturday but that a Sunday session was likely. The Senate will be voting on nominations Saturday.
The pending bill is the first significant legislative response to the pandemic since the landmark CARES Act passed virtually unanimously in March, delivering $1.8 trillion in aid, more generous $600-per-week bonus jobless benefits and $1,200 direct payments to most individuals.
The CARES legislation passed at a moment of great uncertainty and unprecedented shutdowns aimed at stopping the coronavirus. After that, though, many Republicans focused more on loosening social and economic restrictions as the key to recovery instead of more taxpayer-fundedaid.
Now, Republicans are motivated chiefly to extend business subsidies and some jobless benefits and to provide money for schools and vaccines. Democrats, meanwhile, have focused on bigger economic stimulus measures and more help for those struggling economically during the pandemic. The urgency was underscored Thursday by the
weekly unemployment numbers, which revealed that 885,000 people applied for jobless benefits last week, the highest weekly total since September.
The emerging package falls well short of the $2 trillion-plus Democrats were demanding this fall before the election, but Mr. Biden is eager for an aid package to prop up the economy and
help the jobless and poor. While he says more economic stimulus will be neededearly next year, some Republicans maintain that the current package may be the last.
“If we address the critical needs right now and things improve next year as the vaccine gets out there and the economy starts to pick up again, you know, there
may be less of a need,” said Sen. John Thune, R-S.D.
Most economists, however, strongly support additional economic stimulus as necessary to keep businesses and households afloat through what is widely anticipated to be a tough winter. Many forecast the economy could shrink in the first three months of 2021 without more help.