Inside Biden's decision to go it alone with Democrats on coronavirus relief Ashley Parker, Matt Viser and Seung Min Kim, The Washington Post Feb. 7, 2021 FacebookTwitterEmail WASHINGTON - Partway through a two-hour Oval Office meeting with President Joe Biden about his coronavirus relief package, several Republican senators thought they might have finally reached a breakthrough. Biden's plan provides $400 in additional weekly unemployment benefits until the end of September, while the alternative offered by a group of 10 Republican senators calls for $300 until the end of June - and the president seemed open to a compromise. "Well, this is probably something we could talk about," Biden said, according to Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., one of the attendees.