The U.S. Capitol Rotunda (Credit: Diego M. Radzinschi)
As stimulus talks continued over the weekend, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said Sunday that she's "optimistic" that Democrats and the Trump administration can reach an agreement before the election, and set a Tuesday deadline.
Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said over the weekend that the Senate would vote Tuesday on a standalone bill providing additional funds for the Paycheck Protection Program and Wednesday on $500 billion in relief for "targeted relief programs that Democrats do not even claim to oppose."
The bill, according to McConnell, would fund:
- More federally expanded unemployment benefits for laid-off Americans;
- A second round of the Paycheck Protection Program;
- More than $100 billion for schools;
- More testing and tracing;
- More funding for Operation Warp Speed to produce a vaccine; and
- More funding to distribute that vaccine across the country.
"Nobody thinks this $500B+ proposal would resolve every problem forever," McConnell said. "It would deliver huge amounts of additional help to workers and families right now while Washington keeps arguing over the rest."
