Politics | Senate Leaders Clear Last Hurdle on Covid-19 Package

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Senate Leaders Clear Last Hurdle on Covid-19 Package – Senators reached an agreement on the Federal Reserve’s emergency lending powers late Saturday, clearing the last major hurdle on a $900 billion coronavirus-relief package, according to aides from both parties.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) and Sen. Pat Toomey (R., Pa.) were finishing details on a compromise Saturday night. Under the deal, the central bank would retain its ability to set up emergency lending programs without congressional approval. But it would face a narrower constraint: The Fed wouldn’t be able to replicate programs identical to the ones it started in March at the beginning of the pandemic without the approval of Congress.

GOP Sen. Pat Toomey had pushed to limit the Fed’s emergency lending ability in the pandemic, sparking opposition from Democrats. PHOTO: ALEX WONG/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Mr. Schumer told reporters he thought both the House and Senate would be able to vote Sunday on the relief bill, which is expected to be combined with a spending bill needed to avoid a partial government shutdown. The government’s current funding expires at 12:01 a.m. Monday.

“It looks like we’ll be able to. If things continue on this path and nothing gets in the way, we’ll be able to vote tomorrow,” Mr. Schumer said late Saturday night. With the dispute over the Fed provision resolved, a final agreement on the full coronavirus relief package was significantly closer, a senior Democratic aide said late Saturday.

A spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) said early Sunday that now that the Fed dispute had been resolved, “we can begin closing out the rest of the package to deliver much-needed relief to families, workers, and businesses.”

The relief package under discussion is expected to include $300 a week in enhanced unemployment benefits, a second round of stimulus checks and funding for schools, health-care providers, vaccine distribution and small businesses. Negotiations accelerated this week after congressional leaders agreed to drop two provisions: funding for hard-hit state and local governments, which Democrats and some Republicans had sought, as well as liability protections for businesses and other entities operating during the pandemic, a top GOP priority.

President Trump urged lawmakers to finish work on the relief package.

“GET IT DONE, and give them more money in direct payments,” he said on Twitter early Sunday morning.

Momentum slowed on Friday and Saturday when Democrats objected to a push from Mr. Toomey to insert a measure that would restrict the Fed’s ability to establish the types of emergency lending programs that it authorized in March to curb an emerging financial panic. That step would go beyond an earlier proposal to revoke $429 billion provided to the Treasury Department to backstop losses in the Fed lending programs.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin last month declined to allow the programs to continue after Dec. 31, saying he didn’t think it was legally allowed. A nonpartisan congressional research arm disputed that interpretation on Thursday.

Mr. Toomey had insisted that the Fed be prevented from reviving those programs without explicit congressional approval. His proposal would have barred the Fed and Treasury from independently establishing programs that seek to purchase certain debts of businesses, cities or states, as the Fed has done this year.