'Help is on the way': Covid relief bill deal agreed, says Mitch McConnell
Top congressional leaders have announced agreement on a $900bn coronavirus aid package after late-night discussions on Sunday.
“We can finally report what our nation has needed to hear for a very long time: more help is on the way,” said Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell. “Moments ago, in consultation with our committees, the four leaders of the Senate and House finalised an agreement for another major rescue package for the American people.”
McConnell said lawmakers needed to “promptly finalize text” and avoid any last-minute obstacles.
Democratic Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer said the package should have enough support to pass both chambers of Congress. “Finally we have some good news to deliver to the American people,” he said on the Senate floor.
Lawmakers said they had resolved disputes over the Federal Reserve’s pandemic lending authority, education funding and small-business lending. “I think it’s for the most part wrapped up,” Republican John Thune told reporters.
Congress aims to include the coronavirus aid package in a $1.4tn spending bill to keep federal funds flowing. With not enough time to pass it before a midnight Sunday deadline, the House granted a temporary funding extension to avoid a government shutdown .
Among the measures agreed were the expansion of payroll assistance to additional struggling local news outlets. House speaker Nancy Pelosi and Schumer said the measure would expand eligibility “for nonprofits and local newspapers, TV and radio broadcasters”. Thousands of local newspapers, TV and radio stations had been ineligible for the initial payroll protection program approved by Congress in March because they were owned by larger parent companies.
Earlier, Republican senator Mitt Romney told CNN’s State of the Union: “I believe there is going to be a deal. There are always sticking points, but the big one was resolved last night … They’re working out some additional points but I think it’s going to get done. It’ll get done before Christmas.”
Mark Warner, a Virginia Democrat, referred to a popular Dr Seuss character who “stole” Christmas when he told ABC’s This Week: “The great news is, Congress is not going to be the Grinch. We’re going to get this package done.”
The coronavirus aid deal includes $600 direct payments to individuals and a $300 per week unemployment compensation supplement. The second-largest economic stimulus in US history, following the $2.3tn Cares Act passed in March, it will be tied to a $1.4tn spending bill that funds government programs through September 2021.
The House was due to meet at noon on Sunday in order to take up the bill.
“I do have optimism that it’ll pass,” House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy told Fox Business. “I am very hopeful that we get this done today.”
Nancy Pelosi, the chamber’s top Democrat, told reporters she wanted to give members some time to review the package before calling a vote.
“I think we’re close, we’re very close,” Pelosi said. “But we want to have members have enough time to review it all.”
Donald Trump, whose administration has largely left negotiations to congressional leaders, used Twitter to complain.
“Why isn’t Congress giving our people a Stimulus Bill? [The pandemic] wasn’t their fault, it was the fault of China,” Trump wrote. “GET IT DONE, and give them more money in direct payments.”
Senator Pat Toomey, a Pennsylvania Republican, had insisted on language that would guarantee that the Fed could not revive emergency lending programs for small businesses and state and local governments after 31 December, when they expire under Cares Act relief legislation passed in March.
Republicans said the programs represented unnecessary government interference and politicized the Fed. They accused Democrats of seeking to extend them as a way to provide unchecked funds for state and local governments controlled by their party. Democrats accused the Republicans of trying to limit President-elect Joe Biden’s options for boosting the economy after he takes office on 20 January.
Toomey spokesman Steve Kelly said the senator’s agreement with Schumer “rescinds more than $429bn in unused Cares Act funds; definitively ends the Cares Act lending facilities by 31 December 2020; stops these facilities from being restarted; and forbids them from being duplicated without congressional approval.”
A senior Democratic aide said Toomey had agreed to “drop the broad language in his proposal that would have prevented the Fed chair from establishing similar facilities in the future”.
The Senate adjourned a rare Saturday session with a call from Republican leader Mitch McConnell to avoid last-minute disagreements.
On Sunday, San Francisco Federal Reserve president Mary Daly told CBS’ Face the Nation the package would provide much-needed relief for the economy.
“This support is unequivocally beneficial,” Daly said.
In the 11 months since the first coronavirus cases were documented in the US, Covid-19 has killed around 316,000, by far the most in the world, and put millions out of work. Economists say growth will likely remain sluggish until vaccines are widely available in mid- or late 2021.