Congress still mired in stimulus talks hours before funding deadline

Congress woke up on Friday morning with a major to-do-list: preventing a government shutdown at midnight and clinching a $900 billion coronavirus deal.

While congressional leaders have struck a deal on the broad outlines of a package that would deliver $600 stimulus checks to many individuals and children, $325 billion for small businesses and a $300 weekly unemployment boost, finalizing the deal has proven stubbornly difficult.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) vowed yet again late Thursday that the Senate would not leave without a deal on a spending package that will marry the coronavirus bill with a $1.4 trillion omnibus spending measure through September.

That pledge and Congress’ unfinished business sets up a breakneck Friday of negotiating on the coronavirus and a possible attempt at a short-term funding bill to avoid a lapse in government funding. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said several different sizes of a short-term spending bill were being considered, though Senate Majority Whip John Thune (R-S.D.) has warned that some senators may object to it and force a brief shutdown.

Regardless of what happens with the immediate government funding obstacle, both chambers of Congress are set to work through the weekend to finish off the lame duck session. It’s a fitting finale for a Congress that opened with the longest government shutdown in history.

One of the primary obstacles to finishing the coronavirus bill is a Federal Reserve emergency lending program that Republicans like Sens. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania and Mike Crapo of Idaho want shut down but Democrats want to keep online for incoming President Joe Biden to use.

“They want some language to prevent that from being reopened,” Cornyn said of Republicans.

Disaster relief, direct payment eligibility and money for entertainment venues were also among the final sticking points for negotiators. Then there’s the issue of drafting hundreds of pages of legislative text and getting it through the House and the Senate, where one individual senator can slow everything down.

Source: https://www.politico.com/news/2020/12/18/congress-stimulus-talks-funding-448089
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