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Nancy Pelosi says she wishes $600 stimulus checks were bigger but tells critics they are 'significant' as Mitch McConnell promises vote tonight on $900 billion package - which Trump will sign

Nancy Pelosi said Monday she was hoping the $600 stimulus checks in the latest coronavirus relief package would be bigger amid widespread criticism that the measure was only half the payment included in the March CARES Act.

The House Speaker's comments follows intense negotiations to get a deal passed before breaking for Christmas as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell promises the upper chamber will vote on the $900 billion legislation before the end of the day Monday. 

'We also have in the legislation direct payments, which were not in the Republican bill, to America's working families,' Pelosi said during remarks on the House floor Monday.

She added: 'I would like them to have been bigger, but they are significant. And they will be going but soon.'

President Donald Trump immediately took credit Monday morning for lawmakers including the $600 stimulus checks in the bill.

'The President was responsible for those direct payments to Americans in the Covid-19 Relief Bill.' @kilmeade @foxandfriends,' Trump tweeted, quoting Fox & Friends host Brian Kilmeade.

He also lauded vaccination distribution as the Moderna shot was approved for emergency use: 'And the Moderna vaccine has already started rolling out. Very smooth distribution!' 

While Congress finally agreed on a bill Sunday night that included direct payments, they are only half of what was in the $1.2 trillion CARES Act passed in March – which saw $1,200 checks go out to Americans making less than $90,000.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told reporters on Capitol Hill Monday that the Senate will work into the night to make sure the legislation is passed.

'Yeah, we're going to stay here until we finish tonight,' McConnell said, noting it will 'probably be late.' 

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Monday that she wishes the $600 direct payments to Americans included in the finally agreed-upon coroanvirus relief package were larger

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Monday that she wishes the $600 direct payments to Americans included in the finally agreed-upon coroanvirus relief package were larger

'I would like them to have been bigger, but they are significant. And they will be going but soon,' she said during House floor remarks Monday

'I would like them to have been bigger, but they are significant. And they will be going but soon,' she said during House floor remarks Monday

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell promised the Senate would stay at the Capitol into the night Monday to make sure the legislation gets passed in the upper chamber

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell promised the Senate would stay at the Capitol into the night Monday to make sure the legislation gets passed in the upper chamber

'Yeah, we're going to stay here until we finish tonight,' McConnell told reporters on Capitol Hill on Monday

'Yeah, we're going to stay here until we finish tonight,' McConnell told reporters on Capitol Hill on Monday

While lawmakers are rushing on Monday to get a floor vote on the bill, technical issues are preventing people in charge of uploading the text of the bill from getting it online.

'I hope they are trying to fix it so I think what's happening right now is they're trying to send out since they can't get legislative text out as quickly they hoped,' Senate Majority Whip John Thune said.

'I think it's a huge project, bigger than anything we've done in time, I've been here,' he told reporters at the Capitol Monday. 'And, unfortunately, it's bad time to computer glitch.'

Depending on cooperation of senators, the process could take longer in the upper chamber.

Lawmakers, including leadership, have vowed not to break for Christmas recess until a deal on coronavirus aid is reached, passed and sent to the president's desk for his signature.

The deal is nine months in the making after several deadlocks left Americans with no additional assistance as the coronavirus pandemic continued to ravage the country.  

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has suggested he thinks he can get consent late Monday evening and White House spokesman Ben Williamson says Trump will sign the bill once it hits his desk 

President Donald Trump immediately took credit Monday morning for Congress including $600 stimulus checks in the latest coronavirus relief package

President Donald Trump immediately took credit Monday morning for Congress including $600 stimulus checks in the latest coronavirus relief package

The next round of checks, which Americans could see in their bank accounts as early as January, is only half of the $1,200 checks sent out in March as part of the $1.2 trillion CARES Act

The next round of checks, which Americans could see in their bank accounts as early as January, is only half of the $1,200 checks sent out in March as part of the $1.2 trillion CARES Act 

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The near trillion-dollar deal – the first such sweeping legislation since March – delivers long-overdue help to businesses and individuals and provides money to deliver vaccines nationwide.

It also establishes a temporary $300-per-week supplemental jobless boost and $600 direct stimulus payments to most Americans - half of what they got in April - along with a new round of subsidies for hard-hit businesses and money for schools, health care providers and renters facing eviction.

The final version of the bill will be split into two parts, with hopes if one doesn't pass the other will.

The first part is a government funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security, Defense Department, Commerce Department and Justice Department, among other agencies. The second part would be for the rest, less controversial government spending as well as COVID-19 relief.

Democrats are likely to vote against the first package buy in favor of the second. 

Congress passed and Trump signed a one-day stopgap spending bill over the weekend to avert a government shutdown at midnight Sunday. 

McConnell tweeted 'breaking' news Sunday evening that Congress 'will pass another rescue package ASAP'

McConnell tweeted 'breaking' news Sunday evening that Congress 'will pass another rescue package ASAP'

COVID Stimulus Bill Breakdown

The $900billion stimulus plan Senate leaders agreed to on Sunday would provide direct aid to citizens as well as aid to businesses. A vote is expected Monday. 

Provisions include:

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer heads back to his office after the news conference with Pelosi. Schumer reached an agreement on the language of the bill with Republican leaders that was holding up progress

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer heads back to his office after the news conference with Pelosi. Schumer reached an agreement on the language of the bill with Republican leaders that was holding up progress

When to Expect Your Relief Check 

 Direct checks to Americans could start hitting accounts shortly after Jan. 1, assuming Congress passes the bill Monday and Trump signs it before Christmas.

Additionally, the relief could come quicker than it did in the first round earlier this year, as millions have verified their information on the IRS's 'Get My Payment' site. 

Those receiving paper checks would get their money in the coming weeks.

 Republican and Democratic leaders said the package should have enough support to pass both chambers of Congress.

The legislation was held up by months of dysfunction, posturing and bad faith. But talks turned serious last week as lawmakers on both sides finally faced the deadline of acting before leaving Washington for Christmas. 

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Sunday: 'At long last, we have the bipartisan breakthrough the country has needed.' 

'There will be another major rescue package for the American people. It is packed with targeted policies to help struggling Americans who have already waited too long,' he added.  

In a joint statement with Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Schumer said: 'We are going to crush the virus and put money in the pockets of the American people.'

 'This bill is a good bill. Tonight is a good night. But it is not the end of the story, it is not the end of the job,' Schumer told reporters. 'Anyone who thinks this bill is enough does not know what´s going on in America.'

President-elect Joe Biden said he applauds 'the bipartisan Congressional economic relief package that will deliver critical resources to fight COVID-19 ... But this action in the lame duck session is just the beginning. Our work is far from over.'

The CARES Act was credited with keeping the economy from falling off a cliff amid widespread lockdowns this spring, but Republicans controlling the Senate cited debt concerns in pushing against Democratic demands. Republican politicians, starting with President Donald Trump, focused more on reopening the economy and less on taxpayer-financed steps like supplemental jobless benefits.

Progress came after a bipartisan group of pragmatists and moderates devised a $908 billion plan that built a middle ground position that the top four leaders of Congress - the GOP and Democratic leaders of both the House and Senate - used as the basis for their talks. The lawmakers urged leaders on both sides to back off of hard-line positions.

'We put our heads down and worked around the clock for nearly a month to produce a bipartisan, bicameral bill to address the emergency needs of our country,' the bipartisan group of about a dozen lawmakers said in a statement. 'Our consensus bill was the foundation of this final package.'

 Pelosi blamed Congressional Republicans for the delay in passing a relief bill in comments late Sunday.

'What took so long is because we could not get our Republican colleagues to crush the virus... they didn't believe in the science, we knew that. But they did believe in herd immunity and that's why we never could come to that first bill pillar: crush the virus.

'It's a first step. We need to do more,' Pelosi said. 

Donald Trump signed a two-day funding extension so lawmakers could stay on Capitol Hill through the weekend and get a deal passed on the aid. On Sunday, he signed another extension to carry government operations through Monday.

The final agreement is the largest spending measure yet. It combines COVID-19 relief with a $1.4 trillion government-wide funding plan and lots of other unrelated measures on taxes, health, infrastructure and education. 

Late-breaking decisions would limit the $300 per week bonus jobless benefits — one half the supplemental federal unemployment benefit provided under the CARES Act in March — to 10 weeks instead of 16 weeks as before. 

The direct $600 stimulus payment to most people is also half the March payment, subject to the same income limits in which an individual's payment begins to phase out after $75,000. 

Payments decline at a rate of $5 per every additional $100 (or 5 per cent) in income starting at $75,000 in adjusted gross income for singles, $112,500 for heads of household, and $150,000 for married couples filing jointly, according to Syracuse.com. 

Direct checks to Americans could start hitting accounts shortly after Jan. 1, assuming Congress passes the bill Monday and Trump signs it before Christmas.

Additionally, the relief could come quicker than it did in the first round earlier this year, as millions have verified their information on the IRS's 'Get My Payment' site.

'I can get out 50 million payments really quickly, a lot of it into people's direct accounts,' Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said.

Those receiving paper checks would get their money in the coming weeks. 

Pelosi and Schumer talk after holding a news conference where they addressed the details of the $900billion COVID relief package on Capitol Hill on Sunday

Pelosi and Schumer talk after holding a news conference where they addressed the details of the $900billion COVID relief package on Capitol Hill on Sunday

President Donald Trump demanded just after midnight Saturday night that Congress deliver the American people another stimulus bill

President Donald Trump demanded just after midnight Saturday night that Congress deliver the American people another stimulus bill

$15billion in Aid to Airlines

The relief deal will grant U.S. airlines $15 billion in new payroll assistance that will allow them to return more than 32,000 furloughed workers to their payrolls through March 31, sources briefed on the matter told Reuters.

The legislative plan to provide about $900 billion in COVID-19 relief and fund the government is also expected to include $1 billion to passenger railroad Amtrak, $14 billion for public transit systems and $10 billion for state highways, the sources said.

It is also expected to include significant changes to how the Federal Aviation Administration certifies new airplanes following two fatal Boeing Co 737 MAX crashes that killed 346 people. 

The $45 billion COVID-19 transportation package is also set to include $1.75 billion for airports and $200 million for airport concessionaires and $2 billion for the private motorcoach, school bus and ferry industries, according to two sources.  

Airline workers would be paid retroactive to Dec. 1 and airlines would have to resume flying some routes they stopped after the aid package expired, congressional aides briefed on the talks said earlier. Airline workers could not be furloughed through March 31 as a condition of the assistance. 

 

 

A breakthrough came late Saturday in a fight over Federal Reserve emergency powers that was resolved by Schumer and conservative Republican Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania. That led to a final round of negotiations.    

Toomey had been pressing a provision to close down Federal Reserve lending facilities that Democrats and the White House said was too broadly worded and would have tied the hands of the incoming Biden administration.  

The Fed's emergency programs provided loans to small and mid-size businesses and bought state and local government bonds. Those bond purchases made it easier for those governments to borrow, at a time when their finances were under pressure from job losses and health costs stemming from the pandemic.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said last month that those programs, along with two that purchased corporate bonds, would close at the end of the year, prompting an initial objection by the Fed. Under the Dodd-Frank financial overhaul law passed after the Great Recession, the Fed can only set up emergency programs with the support of the treasury secretary.

Toomey said the emergency powers were designed to stabilize capital markets at the height of the pandemic this spring and were expiring at the end of the month anyway. Democrats said that Toomey was trying to limit the Fed's ability to boost the economy, just as President-elect Joe Biden prepared to take office.

The agreement on virus aid would deliver more than $300 billion in aid to businesses as well as the extra $300-per-week for the jobless and renewal of state benefits that would otherwise expire right after Christmas. 

It included $600 direct payments to individuals; vaccine distribution funds; and money for renters, schools, the Postal Service and people needing food aid.

The governmentwide appropriations bill would fund agencies through next September. That measure was likely to provide a last $1.4 billion installment for Trump's U.S.-Mexico border wall as a condition of winning his signature.     

The bill leaves out two of the most contentious elements in the negotiations: legal protections for businesses from coronavirus lawsuits, which had been sought by Republicans, and the substantial aid for state and local governments advocated by Democrats.

But the package helps state and local governments indirectly by providing billions for schools, coronavirus testing and other expenses, Schumer said.

The bill would allow Federal Reserve emergency lending programs to expire on Dec. 31 for businesses and state and local governments, which Republicans said were an unnecessary government interference in private business. But it does not prevent similar programs from being created.

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Senator Pat Toomey (pictured), a Republican from Pennsylvania, proposed a provision that would curb emergency Federal Reserve powers. This was one of the major sticking point for both sides. Schumer spent all Saturday meeting with Toomey

Senator Pat Toomey , a Republican from Pennsylvania, proposed a provision that would curb emergency Federal Reserve powers. This was one of the major sticking point for both sides. Schumer spent all Saturday meeting with Toomey

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Priti Patel doens't rule out tougher measures across the whole of UK

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Thousands pack Rio beaches despite rise in COVID cases

Lorries from Operation Stack under police escort to Kent airport

The $900 billion bill comes as the pandemic is delivering its most fearsome surge yet, killing more than 3,000 victims per day and straining the health care system.

As of Sunday morning the U.S. has more than 17.6 million confirmed cases of coronavirus and more than 316,000 deaths – meaning the death rate sit at around 0.017 per cent in the U.S.

While vaccines are on the way, most people won't get them for months as priority has been set on getting the shot to healthcare workers and those in long-term care facilities. 

Some lawmakers, including Republican Senator Josh Hawley and Independent Senator Bernie Sanders, were pushing for the second round of payments fo be as much as the first passed as part of the March CARES Act.

The legislation is the first significant legislative response to the pandemic since the landmark CARES Act passed virtually unanimously in March. That package delivered $1.8 trillion in aid and a more generous $600 per week bonus jobless benefits and $1,200 direct payments. 

The governmentwide appropriations bill would fund agencies through next September. That measure was likely to provide a last $1.4 billion installment for Trump´s U.S.-Mexico border wall as a condition of winning his signature.

The bill was an engine to carry much of Capitol Hill's unfinished business, including an almost 400-page water resources bill that targets $10 billion for 46 Army Corps of Engineers flood control, environmental and coastal protection projects. Another addition would extend a batch of soon-to-expire tax breaks, including one for craft brewers, wineries and distillers.

It also would carry numerous clean energy provisions, $7 billion to increase access to broadband, $4 billion to help other nations vaccinate their people, $14 billion for cash-starved transit systems, Amtrak and airports.

Democrats failed in a monthslong battle to deliver direct fiscal relief to states and local governments, but they successfully pressed for $22 billion would help states and local governments with COVID-19-related health expenses like testing and vaccines.

The end-of-session rush also promised relief for victims of shockingly steep surprise medical bills, a phenomenon that often occurs when providers drop out of insurance company networks.

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