U.S. CONGRESS AVERTS SHUTDOWN BY APPROVING A TWO-DAY STOPGAP SPENDING BILL

Congress passed a two-day stopgap spending bill, averting a government shutdown and buying more time for frustratingly slow endgame negotiations on an almost $1 trillion COVID-19 relief package, Andrew Taylor reported for the Associated Press (AP).

The virus aid talks remained on track, both sides said, but closing out final disagreements was proving difficult. Weekend sessions were on tap, and House leaders hoped for a vote on Sunday on the massive package, which wraps much of Capitol Hill’s unfinished 2020 business into a take-it-or-leave-it behemoth that promises to be a foot thick — or more.

The House passed the temporary funding bill by a 320-60 vote. The Senate approved it by voice vote afterward, sending it to President Donald Trump.

But significant differences remain, including a dispute over a Republican-backed plan to rein in Federal Reserve lending programs intended to ease the pandemic’s economic sting, Patricia Zengerle and Richard Cowan reported for Reuters.

Democrats on Friday came out swinging at a key obstacle: A provision by conservative Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., that would close down more than $400 billion in potential Federal Reserve lending powers established under a relief bill in March.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is shutting down the programs at the end of December, but Toomey’s language goes further, by barring the Fed from restarting the lending next year, and Democrats say the provision would tie Biden’s hands and put the economy at risk.

The coronavirus legislation is expected to include onetime checks for most Americans of about $600 each, extended unemployment benefits of $300 per week, help for states distributing the vaccine, and assistance for small businesses struggling through the pandemic. Congressional leaders plan to attach the COVID-19 aid to the $1.4 trillion spending bill.

The emerging agreement would deliver more than $300 billion in aid to businesses and provide the jobless a $300-per-week bonus federal unemployment benefit and renewal of state benefits that would otherwise expire right after Christmas. It also includes $600 direct payments to individuals; vaccine distribution funds and money for renters, schools, the Postal Service and people needing food aid.

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