The Senate on Tuesday evening passed the $484 billion bill by a voice vote, sending it to the House for an approval expected Thursday.
The package, which lawmakers dubbed an interim emergency bill, also includes funding to ramp up the country's testing for the new coronavirus, but doesn't include funding sought by Democrats for hard-hit state and local budgets, which instead was pushed off to the next round of stimulus negotiations.
Lawmakers sparred for nearly two weeks over what else should be funded in the relief package, with the GOP pushing to quickly pour more funds into the small-business program and Democrats holding out for money for hospitals, testing, food stamps and state and local governments.
"At the core of our agreement is $320 billion more for the Paycheck Protection Program, which is already saving millions of small-business jobs and helping Americans get paychecks instead of pink slips," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on the Senate floor Tuesday.
The Paycheck Protection Program was part of the roughly $2.2 trillion stimulus bill Congress passed last month and is aimed at helping small firms cover payroll and other essential expenses for roughly two months.
"We negotiated a bill that not only provided support, but made it more effective, more inclusive and addressed other urgent national priorities as well," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said on the Senate floor Tuesday.
In addition to the small-business aid, the bill includes $75 billion for hospitals and $25 billion for testing, two areas where Republicans said the need for funding grew more apparent over recent days.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/schumer-says-he-believes-congress-has-a-deal-on-small-business-aid-11587473436?mod=hp_lead_pos2
The package, which lawmakers dubbed an interim emergency bill, also includes funding to ramp up the country's testing for the new coronavirus, but doesn't include funding sought by Democrats for hard-hit state and local budgets, which instead was pushed off to the next round of stimulus negotiations.
Lawmakers sparred for nearly two weeks over what else should be funded in the relief package, with the GOP pushing to quickly pour more funds into the small-business program and Democrats holding out for money for hospitals, testing, food stamps and state and local governments.
"At the core of our agreement is $320 billion more for the Paycheck Protection Program, which is already saving millions of small-business jobs and helping Americans get paychecks instead of pink slips," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on the Senate floor Tuesday.
The Paycheck Protection Program was part of the roughly $2.2 trillion stimulus bill Congress passed last month and is aimed at helping small firms cover payroll and other essential expenses for roughly two months.
"We negotiated a bill that not only provided support, but made it more effective, more inclusive and addressed other urgent national priorities as well," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said on the Senate floor Tuesday.
In addition to the small-business aid, the bill includes $75 billion for hospitals and $25 billion for testing, two areas where Republicans said the need for funding grew more apparent over recent days.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/schumer-says-he-believes-congress-has-a-deal-on-small-business-aid-11587473436?mod=hp_lead_pos2
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