White House and Senate leaders reach a deal on $2 TRILLION coronavirus bill

The White House has reached a deal with leaders in the Senate on a $2 trillion stimulus deal to aid economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.

The deal was announced just after 1am on Wednesday, after hours of contentious floor speeches in the Senate that appeared to show negotiations teetering on the brink.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said that a vote was planned for Wednesday afternoon, with a House vote to follow.  

The legislation aims to flood the reeling 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. 

It followed days of vicious partisan infighting over what to include, in what ultimately may be the largest emergency rescue package lawmakers have ever passed.

Top White House aide Eric Ueland announced the agreement in a Capitol hallway early on Wednesday.

The agreement came after days of often intense haggling and mounting pressure and still needs to be finalized in detailed legislative language.

‘Ladies and gentlemen, we are done. We have a deal,’ Ueland said.

Later, before the Senate gavelled out at around 1.50am, McConnell and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer delivered brief remarks saying a deal had been reached, and praising the package. 

The text of the pact was not expected to be available until later on Wednesday. 

However, earlier versions of the bill called for a cash payment to most Americans who make less than $75,000 a year, of $1,200 for each adult and $500 for each child.

At higher incomes, the checks would get smaller. The money would be deposited directly into people’s bank accounts in several weeks, if they have received tax refunds or paid taxes that way in 2018 or 2019. 

The Tax Foundation estimates that 93.6 percent of tax filers will get a check. It’s unclear how the bill will deal with those who do not file taxes, but experts recommend quickly filing for 2019 even for those who owe the government nothing. 

Earlier Tuesday, President Donald Trump had urged swift action. ‘Congress must approve the deal, without all of the nonsense, today,’ he tweeted. ‘The longer it takes, the harder it will be to start up our economy.’ 

The unprecedented economic rescue package would give direct payments to most Americans, expand unemployment benefits and provide a $367 billion program for small businesses to keep making payroll while workers are forced to stay home.

One of the last issues to close concerned $500 billion for guaranteed, subsidized loans to larger industries, including a fight over how generous to be with the airlines. Hospitals would get significant help as well.

It followed days of pressure, unusual partisanship in a crisis, and intense haggling over the fine print, negotiators were almost done with the $2 trillion bill.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell called the crisis the bill is aimed to address ‘the most serous threat to Americans’ health in over a century and quite likely the greatest risk to America’s jobs and prosperity that we’ve seen since the Great Depression.’ 

The final details proved nettlesome as Trump administration officials continued negotiations deep into the night. 

As negotiations dragged on, Senator Lindsey Graham slammed Democrats, accusing them of ‘nickling and diming people who are dying.’

Graham, a South Carolina Republican, furiously ripped his Democratic opponents in a speech from the floor, saying: ‘This bill is $2 trillion. There’s a ton of money in this bill for people who need it, but what we’re doing now is, every special-interest group in town is trying to get a little bit more — nickling and diming at a time when people are dying, literally dying.’

‘I think I understand the give-and-take of life and negotiations,’ Graham said. ‘But I’ve been called by two good friends on the Democratic side in the last five or six hours wanting more money. End the negotiations.’

Senate Democrats had previously blocked the Republican bill, claiming they wanted to add more protections for workers. Republicans meanwhile accused Democrats of trying to draft their own version of the legislation with a hodgepodge wish-list of unnecessary items. 

‘Listen, we were told we are at the one-yard line last night to get this done,’ Senator Steve Daines, a Montana Republican, said on the Senate floor Tuesday night. 

‘All I’ve got to say is, the Senate may think it’s at the one-yard line right now, but Montanans are getting sacked. In fact, our unemployment claims in Montana since march 17th, we just looked it up 15 minutes ago, 14,350 Montanans have filed for unemployment in the last week.’ 

The deal reached Wednesday aims to cushion the economic blow from a pandemic that has killed more than 660 people in the United States and sickened more than 50,000, shuttered thousands of businesses, thrown millions out of work and led states to order 100 million people – nearly a third of the population – to stay at home.

The money at stake in the stimulus legislation exceeds what the U.S. government spends on national defense, scientific research, highway construction and other discretionary programs.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and congressional leaders engaged in final negotiations Tuesday after a tumultuous but productive day Monday. While the two sides had resolved many issues in the sweeping package, some sticking points remained.

‘We’re trying to finalize all the documents, going through a lot of complicated issues, and we’re making a lot of progress,’ Mnuchin said earlier Tuesday.

Ravaged in recent days, stocks rocketed as negotiators signaled a resolution was in sight.