Congress to try for year-end stimulus deal

WASHINGTON — The prospects for an elusive bipartisan stimulus deal appeared to brighten Friday as Speaker Nancy Pelosi projected fresh optimism that the House and Senate could come to terms and President-elect Joe Biden prodded lawmakers to “act and act now” on a measure he insisted was within reach.

Even as liberal Democrats warned that the emerging compromise was woefully inadequate amid economic devastation wrought by the pandemic, Pelosi, D-Calif., told reporters that she and Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., the majority leader, had agreed to redouble efforts to find a deal that could be merged with an enormous year-end spending package under discussion.

“That would be our hope because that is the vehicle leaving the station,” Pelosi said at a news conference in the Capitol Friday, a day after speaking with McConnell. He expressed similar resolve Thursday.

After months in which the two top congressional leaders refused to budge from their respective positions, the shared goal marked significant progress — particularly as Pelosi appeared poised to accept a far smaller stimulus package than she had championed.

But while momentum has built behind a $908 billion plan outlined by a bipartisan group of moderates that top Democrats have embraced as the starting point for talks, significant hurdles remained. No actual bill has been written yet, and McConnell has yet to offer an explicit endorsement of a plan that is several times larger than what he has previously said Republicans could accept.

The compromise proposal was offered by a bipartisan group of lawmakers, including Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.V.; Mitt Romney, RUtah; and Susan Collins, RMaine. The group and their aides are expected to continue working to finalize legislation through the weekend.

Stimulus talks have been stalemated for months, with lawmakers unable to resolve differences over issues like the liability protections, a Republican demand that Democrats have resisted, and providing federal aid to state and local governments, a top priority for Democrats that many Republicans oppose. They are also still struggling to resolve a number of policy disputes in the must-pass bills needed to keep the government funded beyond Dec. 11.

The emerging compromise would revive lapsed federal unemployment benefits at $300 a week for 18 weeks and provide billions of dollars in funding for small businesses, schools and the imminent distribution of a vaccine.