Negotiations on a coronavirus relief bill dragged on until the weekend, and the clock ticked for Congress to provide legislation on urgently needed aid, as well as an omnibus government spending measure. The Senate adjourned Saturday evening until 1 p.m. Sunday without any agreement.
President Trump signed the ongoing draft resolution in a hurry passed the House and Senate Friday night, extending the deadline for Congress to pass a funding bill for an additional 48 hours.
Senator Dick Durbin confirmed to reporters on Saturday that “it won’t be tonight.”
Members of Congress did not appear to be closer to an agreement on Saturday, although they continued to insist that negotiations would end.
“We are within reach,” said President Nancy Pelosi, who assured House Democrats in a conference call with members of her group on Saturday. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a speech on the Senate floor that “it’s time to conclude,” adding that “we’re close to an agreement, but we need to end it.”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell also said Congress should “conclude our talks, draft legislation and land this plane.”
“There’s a kind of gravitational pull here in Congress, where unless we’re careful, any major negotiation can easily get into an endless catalog of disagreements. Let’s protect ourselves from that,” McConnell said.
Despite McConnell’s words, there is an end to the negotiations: a proposal tabled by Republican Sen. Pat Toomey and backed by the Republican conference that would end the Federal Reserve’s emergency lending programs established by the CARES Act in March.
“The legislation, my language, which I am trying to include in this package, reiterates that these CARES facilities will end on December 31, as Congress intended,” Toomey said in a speech on the Senate floor Saturday.
However, Democrats argue that there is still a need for such loan programs and accuse Republicans of allowing the economic outlook to worsen before the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden.
“The biggest impediment is this coming to the party, which for me is detrimental to the economy and which is holding back our ability to reach this agreement. It would forever ban the president from participating in exactly what the president did. Obama at the time of the Great Recession, “Pelosi told the Democratic House of Representatives on Saturday, referring to the Fed’s established lending programs in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis.” It’s a way of telling Joe Biden that we are tying your hands. No matter what comes down, you can’t do it. “
Toomey met with Schumer in the minority leader’s office later Saturday.
“I think we should be able to make a deal, I don’t know the deadline,” Toomey said.
Sen. John Thune, the Republican-majority whip, said he believed negotiations could end by Sunday, but warned that negotiations could drag on until next week.
“I think right now, the scenario is probably most likely to come on Monday, but I think we’re on the front line, we’re on the flat road,” Thune told reporters Saturday.
Republican Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana had a more gloomy outlook on the likelihood of an agreement being reached on Sunday.
“I don’t think that will be resolved soon,” Kennedy told reporters Saturday. “He could see us here until New Year’s Eve or Christmas Eve.”