Congress gives itself more time to strike deal

WASH I NGTON >> A f ter months of fruitless haggling and a frenzied few days of revived talks, Congress missed yet another deadline Friday to deliver an economic stimulus package to help struggling Americans weather the pandemic, instead agreeing to extend government funding for an additional week as leaders continued to search for a deal.

T he Senate approved a one- week stopgap bill to keep federal spending f lowing until next Friday, securing additional time for negotiators to hammer out both a catchall spending package and an elusive coronavirus aid compromise that has divided them since summertime.

Leaders have said they planned to merge the two packages should agreement be reached.

While President Dona ld T r ump sig ned the temporar y funding bill and kept the government from shutting down, it remained unclear whether se ven d ay s wou ld be enough for lawmakers to complete a deal.

Time is waning for lawmakers to resolve policy divisions, with a number of government programs and policies that are helping insulate millions of Americans from the economic consequences of the pandemic set to expire in the coming weeks.

An estimated 12 million workers could lose jobless benefits when two federal programs that expand and extend the unemployment insurance system expire this month, and a federal moratorium on evictions lapses Dec. 31 without administrative action.