Senate clears major virus aid and government funding package, sending it to Trump s desk Print this article
At nearly 6,000 pages, the coronavirus aid and 2021 government spending package that passed late Monday night had to be wheeled into the Senate chamber on a cart.
While it’s likely not a single lawmaker read the entire bill, Congress cleared the measure for President Trump’s signature, and one of the largest legislative packages in history is set to become law.
“None of us think any of this legislation is perfect,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Monday. “But a big, bipartisan majority of us recognize the incredible amount of good it will do when we send it on to the president’s desk.”
Larry Hogan celebrates bipartisan Covid relief deal in new No Labels ad nbcnews.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from nbcnews.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
How a pasta dinner and Zoom chats rescued the COVID-19 relief bill and led to a $900 billion deal Nicholas Wu and Ledyard King, USA TODAY
Congress agrees on $900 billion COVID relief bill
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WASHINGTON – The deal aimed at helping Americans weather the fallout from COVID-19 s relentless winter was hatched at a small gathering fueled by pasta.
In late November, Alaska GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski hosted a dinner at her home that included Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine; Mark Warner, D-Va.; Mitt Romney, R-Utah; and Joe Manchin, D-W.Va. The senators began hammering out a broad legislative outline, including stimulus checks, extended unemployment benefits and a fresh lifeline for small businesses.
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Sometimes law-making in Congress seems as easy as boiling water. You fill the pot, turn on the gas and calmly wait a few minutes for the bubbles.
That’s not what happened with the $900 billion COVID-19 relief package that was patched together over the weekend by congressional bipartisan leaders such as Rep. Josh Gottheimer, the Wyckoff, New Jersey, Democrat and co-chair of the House Problem Solvers Caucus.
This bill was more like making sausage.
In short, the process was messy. The final product did not come together until the last minute. And, even then, it took extra work.
But now observers point to this arduous effort as a template for when President-elect Joe Biden moves into the White House and attempts to push major pieces of legislation through a Congress that is still evenly divided in the Senate and House between Republicans and Democrats. The reason: For COVID-19 relief, Republicans and Democrats actually found a way to compromise.