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WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump, facing a midnight deadline on Friday (Dec. 11), signed a one-week extension of expiring federal funds to avoid a government shutdown and allow more time for separate talks on relief. COVID-19 and an overhead bill. .
The Republican-led Senate passed the bill Friday afternoon after the Democratic-majority House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved the measure on Wednesday.
Without this legislation, a number of government programs faced partial closure, ranging from some airport operations to national parks and State Department activities.
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With just a week to go before its next deadline, on December 18, Congress will now focus on passing a $ 1.4 trillion bill to keep federal operations running through September 2021.
If he can’t reach an agreement by then, Congress would have to pass another interim funding bill or trigger government shutdowns.
Meanwhile, negotiators were trying to come to a separate agreement on a new coronavirus aid bill, which they want to attach to the massive spending bill.
There were months of deep disagreement between the two political parties over the size and shape of such a bill, which would help stimulate the United States economy and bolster efforts to combat COVID-19.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican, has been pushing for a provision to protect businesses from lawsuits, which he says are growing amid the pandemic.
Democrats are largely opposed to that measure as they fight for new federal funding for state and local governments facing the firing of police, firefighters and public health officials due to declining revenues. Many Republicans are resisting this initiative.
Meanwhile, Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent senator, and Republican Josh Hawley on Friday threatened to block another interim funding bill next week, if necessary, unless they get votes on legislation that provides direct payments of US $ 1200 for adults and US $ 500 for children. to ease economic burdens during the COVID-19 pandemic.
These one-time direct payments occurred earlier this year as part of emergency legislation for coronavirus relief enacted in March.
Last spring, after approving more than $ 3 trillion in emergency aid, lawmakers hoped it would be enough to address the worst public health crisis in modern history.
Instead, COVID-19 cases are now spreading across the United States, which has the highest number of coronavirus-related deaths in the world, currently topping 293,000.
Sanders described in a Senate speech the long lines of people seeking food donations in his home state of Vermont and elsewhere.
“Economists tell us that working families today are in worse shape right now than at any time since the Great Depression,” Sanders said, adding that millions of families “are scared to death of being evicted from their homes. “due to unemployment. during the pandemic.
At the end of this month, a moratorium on such evictions expires, as well as supplemental federal unemployment benefits.
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