Congressional Leaders Discuss Adding a Second Round of Stimulus Checks

S E E D E D   C O N T E N T

WASHINGTON—Congressional leaders were closing in on a roughly $900 billion coronavirus relief deal Wednesday expected to include another round of direct payments to households feeling the pain of the pandemic's battering of the global economy, according to people familiar with the negotiations.

The package under discussion was expected to exclude the two thorniest issues: funding for state and local governments and liability protections for businesses and other entities operating during the pandemic, according to people familiar with the talks. But congressional leaders were expected to add a second round of direct checks, potentially of a smaller size than the initial round of checks, which directed $1,200 to individuals and $500 per dependent.

The package was also expected to include enhanced unemployment insurance, among other measures. Congressional aides noted that the negotiations were continuing and no final agreement had been reached.

The overall cost of the package under discussion Wednesday was slightly under $900 billion, according to people familiar with the talks.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.), Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.), Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.) met multiple times on Tuesday, talking late into the night, and were expected to continue their negotiations Wednesday.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin joined the two meetings by phone. The Trump administration has previously proposed sending $600 checks.

“We’re making significant progress and I’m optimistic that we’re gonna be able to complete an understanding sometime soon,” Mr. McConnell said Tuesday night.

“We’re exchanging paper and ideas back and forth, making progress and hopefully we can come to an agreement soon,” Mr. Schumer said.

Congressional leaders have said they plan to  attach a coronavirus relief package to a spending bill  needed to keep the government running when its current funding expires at 12:01 a.m. Saturday. That gives leaders only a few days to finalize the aid package and spending bill and approve them in both chambers. Lawmakers and aides said they were making good progress finalizing the full-year spending bill.

The negotiations appeared likely to leave aside the two most difficult components, a move GOP leaders began calling for last week, but with the late addition of direct checks, which many Democrats and some Republicans have sought. Sens. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) and Josh Hawley (R., Mo.) have been among the loudest proponents of adding a second round of direct payments, which are also broadly popular with the public.

“The thing our constituents are asking us the most is: Will this package put money in our pockets?” said Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D., Wash.), chairwoman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, which has pushed for another round of direct payments. “Congress must respond at the scale necessary and ensure that we get direct relief to people across our country.”

For weeks, Democrats had sought to include funding for state and local governments facing budget shortfalls after months of pandemic-related closures and economic fallout. Republicans had resisted, saying not all states needed an infusion of aid.

The top four congressional leaders began negotiating in person Tuesday, one day after a bipartisan group  released a $748 billion bill  that fleshed out their framework for an emergency relief deal through March. The largely rank-and-file group, which had initially proposed a $908 billion offer, spun off the two most contentious elements, the state and local government funding and liability protections, into a separate bill.

The $748 billion bill, which the bipartisan group unanimously supported, includes an additional $300 a week to state unemployment insurance recipients for 16 weeks, $300 billion for small businesses, including another round of the Paycheck Protection Program, $35 billion for health-care providers and $82 billion for schools.

Mr. Schumer said Tuesday that he hoped to beef up the proposal’s $6 billion for vaccine distribution, as the first doses of a vaccine were administered this week. The bipartisan coalition also included roughly $10 billion for testing and tracing of the virus.

Both Democratic and GOP leaders have said Congress shouldn’t adjourn until they have passed a coronavirus aid package. Mr. McConnell has said that lawmakers will be able to revisit the issues of state and local funding and liability protections next year, since President-elect  Joe Biden  has said that anything Congress passes this year will just be a down payment on further assistance needed.

“We all know the new administration’s going to be asking for yet another package. It’s not like we won’t have another opportunity to debate the merits of liability reform and state and local government in the very near future,” Mr. McConnell said.

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said Tuesday that President Trump, who has called for a new round of checks to most Americans, would wait and see what a possible deal looks like.

“He’s said that he would really like to see those stimulus checks in there, but his priority at the end of the day is getting relief to the American people,” she said. “We’re hopeful there will be some sort of agreement.”