Top Capitol Hill negotiators have sealed a deal on a $US900 billion COVID-19 economic relief package, finally delivering long-overdue help to American businesses and individuals and providing money to deliver vaccines to a nation that has lost more than 300,000 people to the disease.
Mitch McConnell and other GOP leaders gained some concessions in their negotiations over the second coronavirus relief package.Democrats acknowledged it wasn’t as robust a relief package as they initially sought — or, they say, the country needs. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi vowed more to come once Biden takes office.
Passage neared as coronavirus cases and deaths spiked and evidence piled up that the economy was struggling. The legislation had been held up by months of dysfunction, posturing and bad faith. But talks turned serious in recent days as legislators on both sides finally faced the deadline of acting before leaving Washington for Christmas.
The CARES Act was credited with keeping the economy from falling off a cliff amid widespread lockdowns this northern spring, but Republicans controlling the Senate cited debt concerns in pushing against Democratic demands. Republican politicians, starting with President Donald Trump, focused more on reopening the economy and less on taxpayer-financed steps like supplemental jobless benefits.
Republicans were most intent on reviving the Paycheck Protection Program with $US284 billion, which would cover a second round of PPP grants to especially hard-hit businesses. Democrats won set-asides for low-income and minority communities. The bill was an engine to carry much of Capitol Hill’s unfinished business, including an almost 400-page water resources bill that targets $US10 billion for 46 Army Corps of Engineers flood control, environmental and coastal protection projects. Another addition would extend a batch of soon-to-expire tax breaks, including one for craft brewers, wineries and distillers.