US lawmakers are set to vote Monday on a $900 billion relief package to help millions of families and small businesses struggling amid the pandemic.
As the COVID-19 death count rises amid a massive resurgence of the virus that again threatens the economy, Republican and Democratic legislators finally agreed on the plan late Sunday after months of wrangling and bitter debate over what to include.
The deal will spare millions of jobless workers who were days away from seeing their unemployment benefits expire, and provide a new round of cash payouts to Americans.
Small businesses will benefit from more government grants, while the package also includes rental assistance to families facing eviction.
"It's a good bipartisan deal," Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Monday. "We will do some good with this legislation.'
But "as President-elect Joe Biden has said, it's a first step, and we will need to do more. More to get virus assistance to crush the virus. More money to buy vaccines," she said on the House floor.
The world's largest economy is facing the world's worst coronavirus outbreak, and the virus returned with a vengeance in recent months threatening a tentative economic recovery.
Recent data shows retail sales slowed heading into the usually-strong holiday shopping season, while new applications for unemployment benefits have risen for four of the past five weeks after months of declines.
The new package will include a new round of pandemic relief payments, and US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the $600 checks will go out as early as next week.
Cash injection
"People are going to see this money by the beginning of the next week," Mnuchin said Monday on CNBC.
That amounts to "$2,400 for a family of four, so much needed relief just in time for the holidays."
While the direct payments are only half the amount provided by the $2.2 trillion CARES Act that Congress approved in March, Mnuchin said it is a "very fast way of getting money into the economy."
"It's money that gets recirculated in the economy, so people go out and spend this money and that helps small business," Mnuchin said.
The $600 payments go to Americans earning less than $75,000 a year and would be reduced for higher incomes, while those who bring home $99,000 or more will not get a check.
The largest provision is the $275 billion in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) aid for businesses, which are government loans that convert to grants if spent on wages and rent.
The agreement also contains $25 billion in rental assistance, extends an eviction moratorium for one month, and provides nearly $100 billion to help schools and childcare facilities re-open.
Biden, who will be sworn in January 20, has welcomed the agreement but said much more will be needed to support the world's largest economy.
"Immediately, starting in the new year, Congress will need to get to work on support for our Covid-19 plan, for support to struggling families, and investments in jobs and economic recovery," he said in a statement Sunday.
Federal Reserve lending
The new relief package will be wrapped together with legislation to fund the government for the coming fiscal year.
The deal seemed endangered in the final days by a dispute over a Republican-backed provision to limit the ability of the US Federal Reserve to provide more emergency lending.
But Democrats were able to block that move by Republican Senator Patrick Toomey, although they were not able to insert billions of dollars in aid to state and local governments on the front line of responding to the virus impact.
"Thank God (Democratic Senate leader) Chuck Schumer was able to dismantle in part the Toomey resolution that would tie the hands of the president to meet the needs of the American people and our economy," Pelosi said.
