‘More help is on the way’: Congress has deal on virus relief bill including $600 checks for people

WASHINGTON, DC — After months of failed negotiations and contentious partisan gridlock, congressional lawmakers announced a roughly $900 billion stimulus package on Sunday that would send immediate relief to Americans and businesses besieged by the economic toll of the coronavirus pandemic - a deal more than eight months in the making.

"Moments ago, the four leaders of the Senate and the House finalized an agreement. It will be another major rescue package for the American people," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on the floor Sunday night. "For the information of all senators and more importantly for the American people, we can finally report what our nation has needed to hear for a very long time: more help is on the way."

"As our citizens continue battling this coronavirus this holiday season, they will not be fighting alone," McConnell said. "Now we need to promptly finalize the text, avoid any last-minute obstacles and cooperate to move this legislation through both chambers."

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called the plan a “package that delivers urgently needed funds to save the lives and livelihoods of the American people as the virus accelerates.” But they both made clear that more needs to be done, and said they would immediately push for more relief after President-elect Joe Biden takes office on Jan. 20.

The final bill text of the agreement is expected to be released on Monday. The $900 billion Covid-19 relief bill will be attached to a must-pass $1.4 omnibus spending bill that funds the government through September 2021. The $2.3 trillion package will be one of the largest spending bills Congress has passed in U.S. history.

The U.S. House intends to vote on the package Monday, quickly followed by the Senate.

Both chambers moved late Sunday night to pass a one-day stopgap funding bill to extend the government shutdown deadline through Monday night.

The Covid-19 agreement includes $600 for individuals making up to $75,000 per year, $1,200 for couples making up to $150,000 per year, as well as a $600 payment for each dependent child.

For example, a family of four would receive $2,400 in direct payments.

The bill provides $300 per week in enhanced federal unemployment benefits through March 14, 2021.

The measure would also provide more than $284 billion for businesses and would revive the Paycheck Protection Program, which expired over the summer. It would expand eligibility under the program for nonprofits and allocate $15 billion for performance venues, independent movie theaters and other cultural institutions devastated by the restrictions imposed to stop the spread of the coronavirus.

It includes funds for loans from small and minority-owned lenders and directs another $20 billion to small business grants.

The agreement is also expected to provide billions of dollars for testing, tracing and vaccine distribution, as well as $82 billion for colleges and schools, $13 billion in increased nutrition assistance, $7 billion for broadband access and $25 billion in rental assistance.

The agreement is also expected to extend an eviction moratorium set to expire at the end of the year.

The bill also ends the practice of surprise medical billing.

The agreement also includes a tax break for corporate meal expenses lobbied for by the White House.

"After a long and arduous year, after a year full of bad news, finally we have some good news to dealer to the American people," Schumer said. "Make no mistake about it. This agreement is far from perfect, but it will deliver emergency relief to a nation in the throes of a genuine emergency."

Schumer emphasized, as he has several times in recent days, that the bill is not robust enough and should be viewed as a "down payment" that "should be viewed as a floor, not a ceiling."

The agreement comes as 12 million people are set to lose benefits if pandemic-era provisions to expand unemployment eligibility expire. Millions across the country face eviction if a federal moratorium expires at the end of the year.

All this comes as the rising number of Covid-19 cases are taking a toll on the economy: The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits rose again to 885,000 in the week ending Dec. 12 -- the highest weekly total since September.