White House and Senate leaders reportedly struck a deal during the early morning hours on Wednesday over a $2 trillion stimulus bill to combat the economic fallout of the coronavirus outbreak.
“The White House and Senate leaders struck a major deal early Wednesday morning over a $2-trillion package to provide a jolt to an economy struggling amid the coronavirus pandemic, capping days of marathon negotiations that produced the far-reaching measure,” CNN reported.
#BREAKING: The White House and Senate leaders struck a major deal early Wednesday morning over a $2-trillion package to provide a jolt to an economy struggling amid the coronavirus pandemic, capping days of marathon negotiations that produced the far-reaching measure.
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) March 25, 2020
The Washington Post reported:
The agreement capped five straight days of intensive negotiations that occasionally descended into partisan warfare as the nation’s economy reeled from the deadly pandemic, with schools and businesses closed, mass layoffs slamming the workforce, and tens of thousands falling ill.
The legislation, unprecedented in its size and scope, aims to flood the economy with capital by sending $1,200 checks to many Americans, creating a $367 billion loan program for small businesses, and setting up a $500 billion fund for industries, cities and states.
Other provisions include a massive boost to unemployment insurance, $150 billion for state and local stimulus funds and $130 billion for hospitals, among numerous other provisions.
CNN’s Manu Raju tweeted that White House legislative affairs director Eric Ueland said after leaving Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s office at 1 a.m.: “Ladies and gentleman, we are done. We have a deal.”
“Much of the work on bill text has been completed,” Ueland continued. “And I’m hopeful that over the next few hours we’ll finish what’s left and be able to circulate it early in the morning.”
At last, we have a deal.
After days of intense discussions, the Senate has reached a bipartisan agreement on a historic relief package for this pandemic.
We’re going to pass this legislation later today.
— Leader McConnell (@LeaderMcConnell) March 25, 2020
White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said during a press conference on Tuesday that the multi-phase stimulus spending bill would total $6 trillion and would be the largest spending bill in history.
“This package will be the single largest main street assistance program in the history of the United States,” Kudlow said. “The single largest main street assistance program in the history of the United States.”
“This legislation is urgently needed to bolster the economy, provide cash injections and liquidity and stabilize financial markets to get us through a difficult period, a difficult and challenging period in the economy facing us right now but also to position us for what I think can be an economic rebound later this year,” Kudlow continued. “Phase two delivered the sick leave for individuals, hourly workers, families and so forth. Phase three, a significant package for small businesses, loan guarantees will be included. We’re going to take out expenses and lost revenues.”
“The total package here comes to roughly $6 trillion: $2 trillion direct assistance, roughly $4 trillion in federal reserve lending power,” Kudlow added. “Again, it will be the largest main street financial package in the history of the United States.”
The stock market exploded late on Tuesday amid reports that Congress was getting to close to getting a deal done, which comes after Democrat House Speaker Nancy Pelosi allegedly ruined a chance for a deal on Sunday.
“So at a time when the country is crying out for bipartisanship and cooperation — and we saw that over the last 48 hours when regular members of Senate, not in the leadership office, not in the speaker’s office for goodness sakes, she’s the Speaker of the House, not the speaker of the Senate. We don’t have one,” McConnell said on Sunday in a swipe at Pelosi. “We were doing just fine until that intervention.”
This report has been updated to include additional information.