Congress Agrees to $900M Coronavirus Stimulus Deal After Months of Failed Negotiations
Congress reached a deal Sunday on a $900 billion coronavirus relief package, a long-delayed effort to boost an American health-care system and economy buckling under the weight of the pandemic.
Congressional leaders announced an agreement on a bill — which would send new federal assistance to households, small businesses, and health-care providers for the first time in months and provide $1.4 trillion to fund the government through Sept. 30 — after days of start-and-stop efforts to finish a deal. They have not yet released the text of the legislation, which they hope to pass the next day.
“At long last, we have the bipartisan breakthrough the country has needed,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said on the Senate floor Sunday.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., called the plan a “package that delivers urgently needed funds to save the lives and livelihoods of the American people as the virus accelerates.” They called the plan inadequate and noted they would soon push for more relief spending after President-elect Joe Biden takes office on Jan. 20.
