Congress Inches ‘Very Close’ To Final Deal On Emergency Relief After Dispute Over Fed Lending Settled

By Laura Olson, the Colorado Newsline

December 20, 2020

WASHINGTON — A deal on a coronavirus relief package was once again in sight on Sunday, after members of Congress resolved a days-long impasse over a provision sought by U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania to ensure that several temporary Federal Reserve lending programs will end this year.

Working through that disagreement over the Fed was a key final piece to hammering out what’s expected to be a $900 billion aid bill, which would be the first major pandemic relief measure to reach the president’s desk since March.

The Fed provision is just one piece of the massive bill that’s expected to include a $600 direct payment to Americans who received a check earlier this year; $300 a week in emergency unemployment benefits; an extension of eviction protections; the suspension of student loan payments; additional loans for small businesses; and added funding for food assistance, child care support and coronavirus testing centers and vaccine distribution.

Votes on the aid package could come as soon as Sunday, though as of Sunday morning, congressional leaders had not yet released final details of the legislation or timing on when they expect to vote.

“We’re very close,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) told reporters Sunday morning.

Negotiators in the Democratic-controlled House and Republican-controlled Senate had appeared close to a deal late last week. But those talks stretched on, with the disagreement over Toomey’s Federal Reserve provision cited as a final sticking point.

Toomey, a Republican who was involved in crafting the CARES Act, said the legislation approved last spring allowed the Fed to create several temporary credit facilities because the financial markets were in danger of freezing up at the height of the economic crisis. Those programs were intended to be temporary and not a long-term expansion of the Fed’s authority, he added.

But Democrats viewed the language he sought as too broad, and potentially too much of a restriction on the Fed’s power. That led to days of negotiations, and forced Congress to approve another short-term spending bill late Friday as lawmakers scrambled to save the aid package. That stopgap expires at midnight Sunday.

Toomey said Sunday morning that the final language was still being drafted, but was narrowed to clarify the programs that would end this year.

“The Democrats made a fair point. That was too broad. And that might have captured facilities that we didn’t intend to capture,” Toomey told reporters. “So yes, it was narrowed down.”

Negotiators were unable to resolve disagreements on two contentious provisions: additional aid to state and local governments, which was sought by Democrats, and a GOP-backed proposal to protect employers from COVID-19-related lawsuits by workers who get sick. Both were dropped.

President Donald Trump, who has largely been absent from the negotiations, tweeted late Saturday night, urging Congress to “GET IT DONE, and give (Americans) more money in direct payments.”

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