Covid-19 Aid Package Set for Final Votes in House, Senate
Source: Wall Street Journal
WASHINGTON—Congress prepared to vote Monday on a sweeping year-end package that included roughly $900 billion of relief for households and businesses battered by the coronavirus pandemic, an emergency measure aimed at buoying the country through a difficult winter.
The House is expected to vote first on a year-end compendium that includes the aid package, a $1.4 trillion spending bill that will fund the government through September, and many other measures, including an agreement to protect patients from surprise medical bills. The government’s current funding expires at midnight, putting lawmakers on the clock to finish drafting the legislative text of the final coronavirus-relief agreement and pass it through both chambers Monday.
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Leaders have said the bill has strong, bipartisan support in both chambers. Although some senators had threatened delays earlier in the process, no one had publicly warned of delaying Monday’s final vote in the Senate, where any one lawmaker can block the chamber from skipping its time-consuming procedures.
Under the deal reached Sunday evening, Congress is expected to approve another round of direct checks of $600 per adult and $600 per child, add $300 to weekly unemployment payments for 11 weeks and extend two other unemployment programs, supply more than $300 billion in relief for small-businesses, including a second round of the Paycheck Protection Program, and pour more than $50 billion into distributing the coronavirus vaccine, as well as testing and tracing efforts.
Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/covid-19-aid-package-set-for-final-votes-in-house-senate/ar-BB1c72kE?li=BBnb7Kz
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