Provided by Dow Jones
By Kristina Peterson and Andrew Duehren WASHINGTON Congressional leaders closed in on a roughly $900 billion coronavirus relief deal that includes another round of direct payments to households, according to lawmakers who aimed to pass the aid package before the week s end. After months of gridlock, the emerging agreement represented a breakthrough at a critical time in the pandemic, with distribution of a vaccine under way but hospitalizations hitting record highs and a new round of business restrictions weighing on the economy. The package under discussion was expected to include, along with direct checks, $300 a week in enhanced unemployment insurance, funding for vaccine distribution, schools, small businesses and health-care providers, and other relief measures. Its size, at just under $900 billion, marked a compromise between the two parties stances: more than the roughly $500 billion Republicans had backed and
agreement
alongside a year-end spending bill, with Democrats and Republicans set to exchange offers deep into the night and no imminent threats to tank a deal.
Congressional leaders have agreed on the contours of a $900 billion proposal that would include a second round of direct payments
and boost
unemployment benefits, but would leave out state and local funding and a liability shield, according to lawmakers and sources briefed on the talks. But negotiations are growing more urgent as Congress creeps toward another government shutdown deadline on Friday evening.
Asked what the hold-up was, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said: Why this takes so long is because we procrastinate and we pretend just one more day and we’ll get a better deal.”
Provided by Dow Jones
By Andrew Duehren and Kristina Peterson WASHINGTON Lawmakers are weighing another stopgap spending measure to give themselves more time to wrap up negotiations on a coronavirus relief bill, as they raced Thursday to complete the details of the roughly $900 billion package. With a government funding deadline approaching, top Republicans and Democrats are closing in on a relief package that would send another direct check to many Americans, enhance unemployment benefits, provide aid to small businesses and fund the distribution of the Covid-19 vaccine, among other measures. Because they are planning to approve a relief bill alongside a broad government spending package, lawmakers had hoped to finish the relief bill before current government funding expires at 12:01 a.m. Saturday. But as that deadline neared, negotiators said they may pass a short-term spending patch to tide the government over until the relief package is
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