COVID-19 bill OK’d without bar to funding of abortion Walgreens health care professionals in Evanston, Ill., pass to each other the COVID-19 Pfizer-BioNTec vaccine Feb. 22, 2021. (CNS photo/Kamil Krzaczynski, Reuters) By Julie Asher • Catholic News Service • Posted March 1, 2021 WASHINGTON (CNS) — Democratic members of the U.S. Senate were hopeful their version of a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package would be passed the second week of March, so they could send it to President Joe Biden for his signature before unemployment assistance expires March 14. The measure includes $246 billion for extending unemployment benefits through August and increasing the federal supplemental payment from $300 per week to $400.