US Congress Closes in on $900 Billion COVID-19 Aid Bill as Friday Deadline Looms

U.S. congressional negotiators on Wednesday were “closing in on” a $900 billion COVID-19 aid bill that will include $600 to $700 stimulus checks and extended unemployment benefits, as a Friday deadline loomed, lawmakers and aides said.

Top members of the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives and Republican-controlled Senate sounded more positive than they have in months on a fresh response to a crisis that has killed more than 304,000 Americans and thrown millions out of work.

Their aides were struggling on Wednesday to draft legislative language as rates of COVID-19 infections are soaring to new highs, even as the United States starts to vaccinate people. The American economy is showing signs of weakening.

Negotiators were looking for a way to shift the approach to aiding hard-hit state and local governments, which has been a key Democratic priority but opposed by Republicans, one source familiar with the talks said. The measure, to be attached to a spending bill that must pass by Friday to avert a government shutdown, is not expected to include new protections for companies from lawsuits related to the pandemic, something high on the Republican agenda.

Senator Dick Durbin, the chamber’s No. 2 Democrat, said the goal was to reach an agreement on Wednesday and have it ready for voting beginning on Thursday.

Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he felt optimistic.

“We made major headway toward hammering out a targeted pandemic relief package,” McConnell said in the Senate. “We need vaccine distribution money, we need to re-up the Paycheck Protection Program to save jobs, we need to continue to provide for laid-off Americans.”

PPP is the federal loan and grant aid program to small businesses suffering from the pandemic.

But the House Democratic leader, Steny Hoyer, said that if the Friday midnight deadline for approving the spending measure is not met, he could envision another stopgap spending bill of three or four days’ duration to keep government agencies open while negotiations continue.

BOOSTING THE ECONOMY

Senator John Thune, the Senate’s No. 2 Republican, said the proposed direct payments to individuals would be around $600 to $700 per person.

Mark Ritacco, director of governmental affairs for the National Association of Counties, said some steps Congress could take to help local authorities include providing a one-year extension of unused funds provided by the CARES Act, a COVID-19 relief bill enacted in March.

His organization also hopes Congress will expand the number of counties that can receive aid to include smaller counties, especially as they must administer the new vaccines. It suggested having the federal government replenish more local COVID-19 relief costs already partly reimbursed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, such as personal protective equipment for schools and other government buildings.

But some Republicans are wary that having FEMA pay more is a roundabout way of providing more state and local government aid.

“If it’s simply a way of disguising money for state and local governments, we’ll have a lot of opposition,” Thune said.

The negotiations come at a key moment for a U.S. economy clearly weakening after an initial rebound from recession triggered by the pandemic earlier this year. Consumer spending, buoyed through the summer and early fall by more than $3 trillion in federal assistance, has hit a wall as new lockdowns limit business activity and keep people home.

Democratic President-elect Joe Biden said the stimulus package was encouraging but more aid would be needed.

“It looks like they’re very, very close, and it looks like there is going to be direct cash payments, but it’s a down payment – an important down payment – on what’s going to have to be done beginning at the end of January, into February,” he told reporters.

Commerce Department data showed retail sales fell unexpectedly sharply in November, with consumer outlays on goods and services showing softness across the board.

The Federal Reserve on Wednesday promised to keep funneling cash into financial markets further into the future to fight the recession, even as policymakers’ outlook for next year improved following initial rollout of a coronavirus vaccine.

(Reporting by Richard Cowan, additional reporting by Jarrett Renshaw in Wilmington, Del., and Susan Cornwell and Susan Heavey in Washington; Writing by Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Scott Malone, Aurora Ellis and Jonathan Oatis)