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The
bill would see direct payments made to most Americans and
provide enhanced payments to unemployed people. It would expand
a small-business lending program and steer money to schools,
airlines, transit systems, and vaccine distribution.
Democratic and Republican leaders of both the House of
Representatives and the Senate said on Sunday that they expected
it would pass with broad support, and the White House said
President Trump will sign it into law.
President-elect Joe Biden, a Democrat, said he supported it as
well but urged Congress to consider further stimulus for him to
sign into law when he takes office on Jan. 20. "My message to
everyone out there struggling right now, help is on the way," he
said in a statement.
The House of Representatives is scheduled to consider the
measure when it convenes at 9:00 a.m. (1400 GMT), with a vote
expected sometime during the day. The Senate could vote quickly
after that. The measure would be attached to a larger $1.4
trillion spending bill that would fund U.S. government activity
through September 2021.
The package, the first Congress-approved aid since March, comes
as the pandemic is accelerating in the United States, infecting
more than 214,000 people every day and slowing the economic
recovery. More than 317,000 Americans have died.
The bill would be the second-largest stimulus package in U.S.
history, behind only the $2.3 trillion aid bill passed this
spring. Economists say that money played a critical role at a
time when social-distancing measures shuttered wide swaths of
the world's largest economy.
The new bill reprises many of the key pillars of the earlier
package, with some modifications. Small-business aid would be
expanded to struggling news outlets and TV stations, while
theaters and live-music venues would get dedicated support.
Unemployed workers would get an extra $300 per week through
March, down from the $600 increase in the earlier bill. An
eviction ban, due to expire at the end of the year, will be
extended through January.
Lawmakers set aside issues that had frozen negotiations for
months, including liability protections sought by Republicans
and state and local government aid sought by Democrats. A
last-minute dispute over emergency-lending programs administered
by Federal Reserve was also resolved.
(Reporting by Andy Sullivan; additional reporting by David
Brunnstrom; Editing by Robert Birsel)
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