Get 40% Off
🤯 This Tech Portfolio is up 29% YTD! Join Now to Get April’s Top PicksGet The Picks – Just 99 USD

As coronavirus aid talks drag on, U.S. Congress prepares stopgap vote to avoid shutdown

Published 12/17/2020, 06:06 AM
Updated 12/17/2020, 01:10 PM
© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: U.S. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) speaks to reporters in the U.S. Capitol in Washington

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: U.S. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) speaks to reporters in the U.S. Capitol in Washington

By Susan Cornwell and Richard Cowan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Negotiations in the U.S. Congress over final details of a $900 billion COVID-19 aid bill could spill into the weekend, requiring another stopgap spending bill to avert a looming government shutdown, Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on Thursday.

Top Republicans and Democrats were closer than ever to producing a fresh round of aid to salve the heavy human and economic toll of a pandemic that has killed more than 300,000 Americans and is worsening as the winter approaches.

Congress must either approve a coronavirus aid bill riding along with a $1.4 trillion government funding measure or pass a third stopgap funding bill by midnight Friday. Otherwise, federal agencies will be forced into shutting down many of their operations for a lack of money, a crisis that both parties want to avoid.

"If we need to further extend the Friday deadline ... I hope we'll extend it for a very, very short window of time," the Republican leader said.

Indicating that there still was work to be done in coronavirus aid negotiations, McConnell said, "We're near the point in this process where we decide if we're going to stay on the fast-track or drift back toward business as usual."

"We made some progress this morning and we’re waiting to hear back" from the other side, House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, told reporters in the Capitol.

The coronavirus legislation is expected to include stimulus checks of about $600, extend unemployment benefits, help pay for vaccine distribution and assist small businesses struggling in a crisis that has killed more than 304,000 Americans and thrown millions out of work.

The top two Democrats in Congress - Pelosi and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer - held a late-night talk with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, an aide to Pelosi said on Twitter.

Congress passed $3 trillion in economic aid last spring, but lawmakers have argued ever since about how much more may be needed. With rates of COVID-19 infections soaring to new highs, and with the American economy showing signs of weakening, leaders of both parties in the House of Representatives and the Senate this month began to compromise in hopes of passing a bill.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, a Democrat, said negotiators were still haggling over emergency aid for nutrition programs, which are stretched during the coronavirus pandemic that has left millions unemployed.

STICKING POINTS

The rough outlines of the legislation emerged from various lawmakers' accounts, but negotiators and aides were still working on several sticking points.

Two contentious issues appear to have been left by the wayside. The measure was not expected to include a dedicated funding stream for state and local governments, which has long been a Democratic priority but opposed by Republicans, or new protections for companies from lawsuits related to the pandemic, something high on the Republican agenda.

But an argument broke out over whether to increase reimbursements from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to local governments for expenses related to COVID-19, like personal protective equipment for schools. Republicans were wary.

"If it’s simply a way of disguising money for state and local governments, we’ll have a lot of opposition," said the Senate's No. 2 Republican, John Thune.

Thune said the proposed direct payments to individuals would be around $600 to $700 per person, roughly half the amount lawmakers approved last spring. Some lawmakers such as Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, were pushing for more.

Lawmakers were discussing $300 weekly in federal unemployment benefits - which would also be half the amount passed last spring, that expired in the summer - and about $330 billion to help small businesses, Thune said.

© Reuters. U.S. Senate Minority Leader Schumer walks through the U.S. Capitol in Washington

The $900 billion price tag for the package partially would be paid for by more than $400 billion in repurposed funds from other parts of the budget, McConnell said.

Latest comments

The hope of stimulus have pumped market up each week since June. Really surprising me that investors still buy in same hope again and again. It should have priced in long time ago.
it will not be approved this week...maybe sometime next year...merry Christmas and happy new year...
All the stimulus possible will accomplish nothing, but to strengthen the socialistic dependence on government money. The left figured out how to make the fundamental shift in our economy and break the backs of millions of Americans. I'm not saying they created Covid, just seized the opportunity. The economy where I live is running full tilt. Get out on the highway. Semi traffic is heavy as ever. We are working and living. However, the shutdowns left the scenery void of small businesses. I don't think they're coming back. Society is moving on without them.
Interesting. They are wrangling for several months while fed gives money in a second. Maybe there are two types of money? real and fake market
It’s the same. All fake. They go to the Fed to get that money for their laws too. There’s a reason every single asset class is advancing. It’s really the dollar being taken out behind the chemical shed.
No news about US record in covid cases and deaths?Oh wait, we want more bubble, only hope please!
News?? Its bad. Get the vaccine. What else do you need to know?
Risk Disclosure: Trading in financial instruments and/or cryptocurrencies involves high risks including the risk of losing some, or all, of your investment amount, and may not be suitable for all investors. Prices of cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile and may be affected by external factors such as financial, regulatory or political events. Trading on margin increases the financial risks.
Before deciding to trade in financial instrument or cryptocurrencies you should be fully informed of the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite, and seek professional advice where needed.
Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. The data and prices on the website are not necessarily provided by any market or exchange, but may be provided by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual price at any given market, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Fusion Media and any provider of the data contained in this website will not accept liability for any loss or damage as a result of your trading, or your reliance on the information contained within this website.
It is prohibited to use, store, reproduce, display, modify, transmit or distribute the data contained in this website without the explicit prior written permission of Fusion Media and/or the data provider. All intellectual property rights are reserved by the providers and/or the exchange providing the data contained in this website.
Fusion Media may be compensated by the advertisers that appear on the website, based on your interaction with the advertisements or advertisers.
© 2007-2024 - Fusion Media Limited. All Rights Reserved.