From News Nation:
“President
Trump signs 2-day stopgap bill to avert government shutdown”
President
Donald Trump signed into law a two-day stopgap spending bill passed by Congress
Friday night to avert a partial government shutdown, trying to buy time for
negotiations on an almost $1 trillion COVID-19 economic relief package. The
House passed the temporary funding bill by a 320-60 vote as lawmakers headed
for a weekend session, sending it to the Senate where it passed unanimously.
The White House announced President Trump signed the bill into law Friday
evening, funding federal agencies through Dec. 20. Republican Senate Majority
Leader Mitch McConnell earlier Friday said talks remained productive. “I am
even more optimistic now than I was last night that a bipartisan, bicameral
framework for a major rescue package is close at hand,” McConnell said. The
House adjourned Friday evening shortly after passing the stopgap measure;
Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Maryland) said negotiators are still working
toward an agreement, and there will be no House votes Saturday as the earliest
anticipated vote on the COVID-19 relief package or omnibus spending bill would
be 1 p.m. EST Sunday. If Congress approves a stimulus check, how long will it
take to show up in your bank account? Funding for the government was to lapse
at midnight. All essential federal workers would remain on the job, and most
government offices would be closed on the weekend anyway.
Democrats 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. “As we navigate through an unprecedented economic
crisis, it is in the interests of the American people to maintain the Fed’s
ability to respond quickly and forcefully,” said Biden economic adviser Brian
Deese. “Undermining that authority could mean less lending to Main Street
businesses, higher unemployment and greater economic pain across the nation.” The
key Fed programs at issue provided loans to small and mid-sized businesses and
bought state and local government bonds, making it easier for those governments
to borrow, at a time when their finances are under pressure from the pandemic. The
Fed would need the support of the Treasury Department to restart the programs,
which Biden’s Treasury secretary nominee, Janet Yellen, a former Fed chair,
would likely provide. Treasury could also provide funds to backstop those
programs without congressional approval and could ease the lending
requirements. That could encourage more lending under the programs, which have
seen only limited use so far.
The battle
obscured progress on other elements of the hoped-for agreement After being
bogged down for much of Thursday, negotiators turned more optimistic, though
the complexity of finalizing the remaining issues and drafting agreements in
precise legislative form was proving daunting. The central elements appeared in
place: more than $300 billion in aid to businesses; a $300-per-week bonus
federal jobless benefit and renewal of soon-to-expire state benefits; $600
direct payments to individuals; vaccine distribution funds and money for renters,
schools, the Postal Service and people needing food aid. Lawmakers were told to
expect to be in session and voting this weekend. The delays weren’t unusual for
legislation of this size and importance, but lawmakers are eager to leave
Washington for the holidays and are getting antsy.
The pending
bill is the first significant legislative response to the pandemic since the
landmark CARES Act passed virtually unanimously in March, delivering $1.8
trillion in aid, more generous $600 per week bonus jobless benefits and $1,200
direct payments to individuals. The CARES legislation passed at a moment of
great uncertainty and unprecedented shutdowns aimed at stopping the
coronavirus, but after that, many Republicans focused more on loosening social
and economic restrictions as the key to recovery instead of more
taxpayer-funded aid. Now, Republicans are motivated chiefly to extend business subsidies
and some jobless benefits and provide money for schools and vaccines. Democrats
have focused on bigger economic stimulus measures and more help for those
struggling economically during the pandemic. The urgency was underscored
Thursday by the weekly unemployment numbers, which revealed that 885,000 people
applied for jobless benefits last week, the highest weekly total since
September. The emerging package falls well short of the $2 trillion-plus
Democrats were demanding this fall before the election, but Biden is eager for
an aid package to prop up the economy and help the jobless and poor. While he
says more economic stimulus will be needed early next year, some Republicans
say the current package may be the last. “If we address the critical needs
right now, and things improve next year as the vaccine gets out there and the
economy starts to pick up again, you know, there may be less of a need,” said
Sen. John Thune of South Dakota. Most economists, however, strongly support
additional economic stimulus as necessary to keep businesses and households
afloat through what is widely anticipated to be a tough winter. Many forecast
the economy could shrink in the first three months of 2021 without more help.
Standard & Poor’s said in a report Tuesday that the economy would be 1.5
percentage points smaller in 2021 without more aid.
The details
were still being worked out, but the measure includes a second round of
“paycheck protection” payments to especially hard-hit businesses, $25 billion
to help struggling renters with their payments, $45 billion for airlines and
transit systems, a temporary 15% or so increase in food stamp benefits,
additional farm subsidies, and a $10 billion bailout for the Postal Service. The
emerging package would combine the $900 billion in COVID-19 relief with a $1.4
trillion government-wide funding bill. Then there are numerous unrelated
add-ons that are catching a ride, known as “ash and trash” in appropriations
panel shorthand. A key breakthrough occurred earlier this week when Democrats
agreed to drop their much-sought $160 billion state and local government aid
package in exchange for McConnell abandoning a key priority of his own — a
liability shield for businesses and other institutions like universities
fearing COVID-19 lawsuits.
^ Congress and
Trump just need to fund the Government for longer than a week or 2 days. ^
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