Congress Makes Gains on COVID-19 Relief Package Negotiations

On Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced that after weeks of negotiations, Congress has made "significant progress” on the long-time discussed COVID-19 relief package.

McConnell refused to comment on the issue further, however, he added that “everybody wants to finish” the negotiations and he is “optimistic that we're gonna be able to complete an understanding sometime soon." 

On Tuesday, Mitch McConnell, Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy tried to complete an additional COVID-19 relief pack and a $1.4 trillion spending bill at a private meeting with the White House speaker Nancy Pelosi and the Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who joined them online.

Following the meeting, Chuck Schumer told the press that the two parties are "exchanging paper and ideas back and forth” and “there is a genuine desire to come to an agreement” by all four parties.

When the reporters asked McConnell if there can reach an agreement in the evening, he said that they “are still talking to each other and there is an agreement that we are not going to leave here without an [omnibus] and a [COVID-19] package.”

The Tuesday meetings happened just ahead of the deadline for government funding on December 18, while the lawmakers need to agree on the relief pack before Friday as pandemic compensations and tax credit for paid sick leave will expire by the end of this year.

As a “framework” for discussions, a group of bipartisan lawmakers proposed a pair of $908 billion compromise bills on Monday. 

The first bill of $748 billion involves some  "emergency" issues both parties have mostly agreed on, such as food, rental, and federal unemployment assistance, as well as education, child care, vaccine distribution funding, etc.

While the second bill of $160 involves local and state government funding supported by Democrats, as well as liability protections for workers, supported by Republicans. Both issues resulted in long-term negotiations which have not led to an agreement yet.  

During the press conference on Tuesday, Chuck Schumer said that they "need more for distribution on the state and local,” while Mitch McConnell pledged, “we are not leaving until we finish this package.”