As time runs out, lawmakers in the United States approached Sunday to finalize a coronavirus pandemic relief bill that would provide an additional $ 300 in unemployment benefits a week, but not another round of direct payments. for $ 1,200 for most Americans, leaving that issue up to President-elect Joe Biden to discuss with a new Congress next year.
The $ 908 billion aid package slated to be unveiled on Monday would be tied to a year-end budget bill, which is necessary to avoid a government shutdown this coming weekend.
Cash payments were a popular measure when they were first distributed after the pandemic hit, and on Friday Biden had expressed hope for a second round of direct payments following negotiations this weekend. .
But senators involved in the negotiations said the payments will not be included as part of the proposal, even after Senator Bernie Sanders and others pointed out that it could lead to opposition to the measure.
Senator Dick Durbin, the second-highest-ranking Democrat in the upper house, said that excluding payments while ensuring small business aid and renter assistance was the only way to reach a deal with Republicans, They are placing limits on the final price of the project.
“The $ 1,200 check cost us, we believe, about $ 300,000 million nationally, to give you an idea,” he said. “The Democrats have always wanted a bigger number, but they told us we couldn’t get anything from the Republicans except this $ 900 billion level.”
The plan developed by a group of Republican and Democratic senators falls far short of the Democrats’ target of $ 2.2 trillion and almost double the $ 500 billion that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell “intended.”
Senator Bill Cassidy agreed that a new round of direct reviews “could be an opportunity” at some point. “This is not a stimulus proposal, it is an aid proposal,” he commented. “And it is something to help those most in need for the next three or four months.”
Both Cassidy and Durbin said McConnell has shown an interest in bipartisan work, and Cassidy said she was hopeful that President Donald Trump would embrace her as well.
The proposal is slated to include federal unemployment benefits of about $ 300 a week, providing assistance just as emergency aid payments at regular levels will expire at the end of the year. It would extend a stay on evictions for people unable to pay their rent and reauthorize the Payment Protection Program to give a second round of subsidies to businesses struggling during the pandemic.
However, there are still sticking points.
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