$500 billion coronavirus aid package passes U.S. Senate,
headed to House
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[April 22, 2020] By
Susan Cornwell and Patricia Zengerle
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate on
Tuesday unanimously approved $484 billion in fresh relief for the U.S.
economy and hospitals hammered by the coronavirus pandemic, sending the
measure to the House of Representatives for final passage later this
week.
The bill, approved on a voice vote by the handful of senators present in
the near-empty chamber, was hurried along shortly after congressional
leaders and the White House brokered an agreement.
The House is expected to vote on Thursday on what would be the fourth
coronavirus-response law. Taken together, the four measures amount to
about $3 trillion in aid since last month to confront a crisis that has
killed more than 43,000 Americans.
President Donald Trump urged Congress to quickly approve the measure,
which mainly expands funding for loans to small businesses, leaving
additional aid to state and local governments for a later bill.
The coronavirus has massively disrupted the way the Congress functions
in only a few months since it spread to the United States after first
appearing in China last year, with historic legislation being passed
with only a few lawmakers present.
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House Democratic leaders have announced that Thursday's vote on the bill
could be followed by a vote to change the chamber's rules to allow
"proxy" voting when necessary. This would mean not all of the House's
429 current members would have to be in the chamber to cast their votes,
a crucial issue when most of the country is under stay-at-home orders
and practicing social distancing to stop the spread of the coronavirus.
At the end of March, Washington provided nearly $350 billion in loans to
small businesses impacted by the economic fallout from the coronavirus
that can turn into grants if certain requirements are met. That funding
was quickly exhausted.
Critics of the program said too much of the money had gone to larger,
better-connected businesses. Indeed, burger chain Shake Shack Inc said
on Monday it would return a $10 million loan it received after coming
under public criticism.
To reduce the risk of large companies getting the bulk of the loans,
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said, $125 billion of small
business funds in the latest package would go to "mom and pop" and
minority-owned stores.
The deal includes $321 billion for a small business lending program, $60
billion for a separate emergency disaster loan program - also for small
businesses - as well as $75 billion for hospitals and $25 billion for
national coronavirus testing.
Schumer, during a short debate, highlighted the funds for fighting the
coronavirus, in addition to the aid for small businesses.
"We can give loans to small businesses, but if there's no customers
walking the streets to go into their stores, what good is that?" Schumer
said.
Congress already is working on a fifth coronavirus-response bill.
Schumer said it could be similar in size to the $2.3 trillion economic
stimulus enacted on March 27.
Republicans increasingly have been critical of passing major funding
bills by voice vote, with most lawmakers not in Washington but back in
their home states.
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![](../images/042220pics/2020-04-22T013900Z_2_LYNXNPEG3K27J_RTROPTP_4_HEALTH-CORONAVIRUS-USA-CONGRESS_small.JPG)
U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) walks inside the U.S. Capitol
after it was announced U.S. congressional leaders and the White
House agreed on nearly $500 billion more in coronavirus relief for
the U.S. economy, bringing to nearly $3 trillion the amount
allocated to deal with the crisis, in Washington, U.S., April 21,
2020. REUTERS/Tom Brenner
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"We ought to bring everybody back, have full participation, begin to think about
the implications to the country's future for this level of national debt,"
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican, said.
But at a time when coronavirus cases are still mounting, House Speaker Nancy
Pelosi has been more cautious about bringing House members back into the
Capitol, saying that such decisions must be based on sound science.
"It's not just about us. It's about the staff, it's about the press, it's about
the security," Pelosi, a Democrat, told reporters, referring to the risk of
infection when large groups of people congregate.
A majority of House members will have to return to Washington for Thursday's
anticipated vote because of a Republican objection to fast-track procedures.
The Senate, which has 100 members, is next scheduled to hold a regular
legislative session on May 4.
With each passing week, Washington has confronted a deepening crisis that has
prompted Republicans and Democrats to work in a mostly bipartisan way to ease
the heavy human and economic toll of a pandemic that has sickened more than
800,000 in the United States and thrown more than 22 million people out of work.
The U.S. economy has been battered as businesses have closed and residents have
observed stay-at-home orders.
While Republicans initially insisted the latest bill provide new funding only
for small businesses, Democrats succeeded in broadening it to hospitals and
other healthcare centers and more money for coronavirus testing.
Democrats failed to convince Republicans to increase emergency federal funding
for state and local governments reeling from steep revenue losses, as well as
infrastructure spending that they have been requesting since the crisis began.
Trump has said he wants to make a major investment in the country's
infrastructure since he became president, but has failed to present a program
for funding it.
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Another round of tough negotiations are expected over the next few weeks on the
next bill that both parties say they want to see moving through Congress.
Democrats are expected to keep pushing for more progress on coronavirus testing
and tracking of infected people's contacts with others.
(Reporting by Susan Cornwell, Patricia Zengerle and Lisa Lambert; additional
reporting by Tim Ahmann; writing by Susan Cornwell, Patricia Zengerle and
Richard Cowan; Editing by Scott Malone, Jonathan Oatis and Sonya Hepinstall)
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