More help is on the way. A few moments ago, the four speakers of the Senate and the House of Representatives reached an agreement in consultation with our committees. This will be another great bailout for the American people. As our citizens continue to fight this coronavirus this holiday season, they will not fight alone. We have agreed on an envelope of nearly $900 billion. It is full of targeted measures to help troubled Americans who have already waited far too long. For workers in the most affected small businesses, there will be a second targeted draw from the Paycheque Protection Program. We haven`t worked as hard in all these months to save as many jobs as possible just to grope the ball with the vaccinations already underway. Speaking of vaccines, we can undo the success of Operation Warp Speed by falling asleep at the distribution office, so this agreement will provide huge sums of money for the logistics that will bring these vital vaccines to our citizens as quickly as possible. Of course, several million Americans have lost their jobs and continue to lose them through no fault of their own. This program will renew and expand a number of other key federal unemployment benefits that have helped families stay afloat. In all kinds of families, in all kinds of situations, it has been a difficult time in all areas.
At the special request and at the insistence of President Trump and his administration, our agreement will provide for another round of direct payments to help households make ends meet and continue our economic recovery. Congress has finally reached an agreement on a new coronavirus stimulus package. In a phone call Saturday night with Democratic senators, Schumer hinted that Toomey had said he was willing to change his proposal to reach a compromise and that talks would continue overnight, according to two people on call who spoke on condition of anonymity. He said that if a deal was reached on Saturday night, the Senate could vote on a final deal as early as Sunday, although others have expressed doubts that the bill can be drafted so quickly and passed by the House of Representatives. On Saturday, there was little noticeable movement toward a deal for an omnibus and a second COVID-19 stimulus package, with Republican Senator Pat Toomey`s insistence on limiting the Federal Reserve`s lending powers remaining the main hurdle. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell called on Republican senators on a conference call Saturday to rally behind Toomey`s proposal as Senate Democrats tried to unite and fight back — and later gain a surprise ally, notes the Washington Post: The $900 billion bill ultimately offers far less help than an earlier $2.2 trillion proposal. that the Democrats had introduced in the House of Representatives. and significantly more than the nearly $550 billion bill favored by Senate Republicans. Democrats have signaled that this is not the last relief they want to send. And as for the paycheck protection program, banks and other financial institutions began accepting the requests about a week after Congress approved the funds in March. This could make requests for a new round of loans, which is expected to start in late December or early January.
On Friday, it looked like Congress might finally be on the verge of agreeing to a stimulus package and spending bill to avoid a shutdown. But negotiations to finalize the plan failed after Senate Republicans, led by Senator Pat Toomey, attempted to end emergency credit powers granted to the Federal Reserve by Congress earlier this year — which would eliminate one of the tools the new Biden administration could use to fight the recession. The curve ball immediately drew criticism from Democrats and the Biden team, as the New York Times notes, «Once this deal goes into effect, it can`t be the last word on lightening Congress,» said Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader who called the deal a «down payment.» Yet even as it prepared to pass a follow-up, Congress was at the height of its dysfunction after leaving so little time to complete it that lawmakers faced a series of contortions to get them across the finish line. With more time needed to turn their deal into legislation, both houses had to approve a one-day emergency spending bill — their third temporary extension in the past 10 days — to avoid a government shutdown while closing the deal. Steve Kelly, a spokesman for Toomey, said the deal was a «clear victory for taxpayers.» At the heart of the breakthrough was a mutual agreement to abandon critical priorities approved by one party and hated by the other: a Democratic push to establish a direct flow of money for narrow state and local governments, and a Republican demand for full liability protection for companies, hospitals, and other institutions that were open during the pandemic. .