WASHINGTON (AP) — Congressional and White House officials said Tuesday a deal appears to be at hand to provide sweeping aid to businesses and workers facing ruin from the coronavirus pandemic.
Both Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and the top Democrat, Sen. Chuck Schumer, said agreement appeared close on the nearly $2 trillion package. “I don’t see any issue that can’t be overcome within the next few hours,” Schumer said. “Last night I thought we were on the five-yard line. Now we’re on the two.”
Negotiators labored in the shadow of what McConnell called “the most serous threat to Americans’ health in over a century and quite likely the greatest risk to America’s jobs and prosperity that we’ve seen since the Great Depression.”
Yet even as the public-health crisis deepened, President Donald Trump expressed eagerness to nudge many people back to work in coming weeks and held out a prospect, based more on hope than science, that the country could be returning to normal in less than a month.
“We have to go back to work, much sooner than people thought,” he told a Fox News town hall. He said he’d like to have the country “opened up and just raring to go” by Easter, April 12. Medical professionals say social distancing needs to be stepped up, not relaxed, to slow the spread of infections.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and congressional leaders engaged in final negotiations after a tumultuous but productive day on Monday. While the two sides have resolved many issues in the sweeping package, some sticking points remained. A Senate vote could come later in the day or on Wednesday.
Ravaged in recent days, stocks climbed as negotiators signaled a resolution was in sight.
At issue is an unprecedented economic rescue package that would give direct payments to most Americans, expanded unemployment benefits, and a $350 billion program for small businesses to keep making payroll while workers are forced to stay home. A point of contention has been $500 billion for guaranteed loans to larger industries.
A one-time payment of $1,200 per person, or $3,000 for a family of four, would go directly to the public.
Hospitals could get up to $200 billion for the expected influx of sick patients, said Mnuchin.
Democrats said the package would help replace the salary of furloughed workers for four months, rather than the three months first proposed. Furloughed workers would get however much a state usually provides for unemployment, plus a one-time $600 add-on.
Opening the Senate on Tuesday, McConnell combined optimism about the chances for a deal with frustration at the delays — and a sober view of the crisis at hand.
“The urgency and the gravity of this moment cannot be lost on anyone,” he said. On the negotiations, he said: “It’s taken a lot of noise and a lot of rhetoric to get us here.” Still, “we are very close. We are close to a bill that takes our bold Republican framework, integrates further ideas from both parties, and delivers huge progress.”
Earlier Tuesday, Trump urged swift action. “Congress must approve the deal, without all of the nonsense, today,” he tweeted. “The longer it takes, the harder it will be to start up our economy.”