At around 9 p.m. Republicans sent word to Schumer that they would accept language resolving the dispute over the Federal Reserve’s lending facilities, according to GOP aides.
The compromise will sweep out the $429 billion in unspent CARES Act funding for the Federal Reserve’s credit lending facilities and repurpose it as an offset for a new $900 billion coronavirus relief bill, GOP sources said.
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The deal will close four Federal Reserve credit lending facilities created by the CARES Act and will prevent the Fed from standing up replica facilities in the future without congressional approval.
Those four programs are the Primary Market Corporate Credit Facility, the Secondary Market Corporate Credit Facility, the Main Street Lending Program and the Municipal Credit Facility.
Here’s more via the Washington Post:
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) both expressed optimism that lawmakers could finalize legislation as early as Sunday. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) told her leadership team on Sunday that she wants a vote Sunday, according to one person who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share details of the congresswoman’s private comments. Congress has until midnight to pass a temporary stopgap measure to keep the government open.
Negotiators have decided to provide stimulus checks worth $600 per person. The size of that benefit would begin to be reduced for people who earned $75,000 the preceding year, similar to the last round of stimulus checks, according to two people who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share details of private deliberations. The stimulus checks would provide $600 per person, including adults and children, meaning a family of four would receive
Trump pushes Congress on coronavirus aid: Get it done thehill.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from thehill.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Leaders hope to attach the COVID-19 relief package to a $1.4 trillion year-end spending bill and bring to an end the 2020 legislative session in time for lawmakers to return home for Christmas.
The major issues that bogged down talks over a new COVID-19 relief package for much of this year, such as whether to provide large amounts of money to state and local governments and how much to spend on federal supplemental unemployment insurance, are resolved.
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The potential deal is now stuck on a disagreement between Republicans and Democrats over the special lending powers granted to the Federal Reserve in the CARES Act, which Congress passed in March.
The Republicans were concerned that failing to do so could allow the programs to become a slush fund in the near future, while Democrats were concerned that the deal ultimately would tie President-elect Joseph R. Biden’s hands when he takes office.
“Senate Republicans achieved all four of our objectives regarding the CARES Act 13(3) Federal Reserve lending programs,” Toomey spokesman Steve Kelly said in a statement. “This agreement rescinds more than $429 billion in unused CARES Act funds; definitively ends the CARES Act lending facilities by December 31, 2020; stops these facilities from being restarted; and forbids them from being duplicated without congressional approval.”