Schumer: 'Finally We Have Some Good News' on Congress Stimulus Agreement

“Finally we have some good news to deliver to the American people.”

.@SenSchumer debriefs on the events leading up to Congress reaching an agreement on the 2nd largest federal stimulus in the nation’s history, blaming Republicans for “8 months of delay and gridlock.”

Congressional leaders said they have agreed on the terms of a roughly $900 billion plan to help the U.S. economy weather the coronavirus pandemic, though the legislation is still being written and the House and Senate won’t vote on it until Monday.

Congress will pass a one-day temporary extension of government funding to avoid a partial shutdown of federal agencies before the package is voted on and signed into law.

Congress plans to combine the virus-related measures with $1.4 trillion in government spending for fiscal year 2021. The government is currently operating under a stopgap spending measure that expires at midnight on Sunday.

The pandemic relief deal includes funds for small businesses, stimulus payments for most individuals, supplemental unemployment benefits, support for vaccine distribution and resources for education, child care and housing.

Congressional Leaders Agree on Pandemic Relief (6:10 p.m.)

The top Republicans and Democrats in Congress have reached agreement on a nearly $900 billion pandemic relief package that the House and Senate will vote on Monday.

The text of the legislation is still being written but Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on the Senate floor that “at long last we have a bipartisan breakthrough” that was needed to get the bill passed in the House and Senate.

It will include extended jobless aid, direct payments to most Americans as well as money for schools and vaccine distribution.

Aid for Jobless to Be Extended for 11 Weeks (5:08 p.m.)

The virus relief plan being readied for a vote in Congress would provide jobless Americans an additional 11 weeks of federal unemployment insurance benefits plus a supplemental payment of $300 a week, a person familiar with negotiations said Sunday.

That includes those receiving state unemployment benefits as well as those receiving Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, the program that provided jobless benefits to those not traditionally eligible like gig workers and the self-employed. Without Congressional action, the program was on track to expire at year-end, which would have caused millions of Americans to lose their jobless benefits.

Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation, which provided up to 13 additional weeks of jobless benefits to those who had exhausted their regular state benefits, would be extended to 24 weeks.

The extra $300-a-week supplement, similar to the extra $600 supplement that expired at the end of July, will continue through mid-March, and provide millions of Americans additional funds to pay their bills as the pandemic rages on. The extension is five weeks shorter than proposed by a bipartisan group of senators two weeks ago.

Additional aid would come in the form of stimulus checks. Families that meet the guidelines will receive $600 per adult and child, according to Senator Josh Hawley. -- Reade Pickert and Erik Wasson

Lawmakers Say Another Stopgap May be Needed (4:05 p.m.)

Republican Senators Susan Collins and James Lankford said Congress should approve another short-term government funding measure to give lawmakers more time to review and pass a combined coronavirus relief and federal spending package.

Current federal spending authority expires at midnight Sunday. An extension would give lawmakers at least a day to read the relief package, which has yet to be made public. Lankford said that lawmakers shouldn’t be asked to vote on the legislation, which is estimated to cost more than $2.3 trillion including the regular government funding portion, the same day it is released.