Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer
Chuck SchumerOcasio-Cortez: “I’m not ready” to be president, but Pelosi and Schumer have to go with the Senate at stake, Georgia is on our minds Democrats see stimulus controls as a winning issue in the Georgia MORE qualifiers (DN.Y.) and Sen. Pat Toomey
Patrick (Pat) Joseph Toomey The government used the Patriot Act to gather records of website visitors in 2019 The appeals court rules that the massive collection of phone data from the illegal NSA Dunford is removed from consideration to chair the MORE coronavirus monitoring panel (R-Pa.) Reached an agreement Saturday night on language to reduce Federal Reserve special credit authorities, laying the groundwork for approving a coronavirus rescue agreement and a spending package omnibus already on Sunday.
Around 9 p.m., Republicans sent a news item to Schumer that he would accept that the language resolve the dispute over Federal Reserve loan facilities, according to GOP aides.
The pledge will eliminate the $ 429 billion in CARES Act funding not spent on Federal Reserve credit lending facilities and reuse it as compensation for a new 900,000 coronavirus relief bill millions of dollars, according to GOP sources.
The agreement will close four Federal Reserve credit lending facilities created by the CARES Act and prevent the Fed from maintaining replication facilities in the future without congressional approval.
These four programs are the primary market corporate credit facility, the secondary market corporate credit facility, the Main Street loan program, and the municipal credit facility.
The Fed will maintain more flexibility in restarting the Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility Loan (TALF), which will close but may be restarted in the future.
Toomey accepted a narrower approach to dealing with possible “copycat” loan facilities. Negotiators agreed on a specific language rather than a mere agreement in principle.
A senior Democratic aide said Toomey “has agreed to abandon the broad language in his proposal that would have prevented the Fed presidency from establishing facilities similar in the future to those created in March.”
“The language of compromise is being finalized, and now that that hurdle has been removed, a final agreement on an emergency aid package is significantly closer,” the Democratic aide said.
A Democratic source familiar with the talks said Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin had already said he would return unspent CARES funds of $ 429 billion to the general fund.
Toomey, however, questioned that claim Thursday.
“I’m not sure the secretary has committed to putting this in a general fund category,” he told reporters earlier in the week. “I’m not sure I will interpret your comments as you do. And there is also the fact that there are other funds in the [Exchange Stabilization Fund] account. In any case, having the language we have, excludes the possibility of restarting these programs from any source “.
Another Democratic House aide said the Toomey deal is laying the groundwork to eliminate all other less significant differences that had stalled negotiations for weeks.
“We expect the remaining open items to fall into place overnight,” the assistant said.
Emerging from his office Saturday night, Schumer predicted that both the House and Senate would vote on the package (a combination of a $ 900 billion coronavirus relief bill and a spending bill $ 1.4 trillion omnibus).
The package will include direct stimulus checks between $ 600 and $ 700, according to a commitment GOP leaders made with Sen. Josh Hawley
Joshua (Josh) David HawleyTrump signs bill to keep government open amid relief talks On The Money: Congress passes bill to prevent closure as coronavirus talks drag on weekend | The Federal Reserve is fighting relief negotiations. Overnight healthcare: CVS, Walgreens begins vaccinations at Pence residence receives coronavirus vaccine on camera | 8.2 million people sign up for ObamaCare MORE (R-Mo.) Friday. Sen. Bernie Sanders
Bernie SandersTrump signs bill to keep government open amid relief talks On The Money: Congress Approves Bill to Avoid Closure as Coronavirus Talks Crawl Over the Weekend | Federal Reserve fight endangers relief talks Congress passes law to prevent closure while coronavirus talks drag on weekend MORE (I-Vt.) He worked with Hawley to include stimulus controls.
Sunday’s vote would avoid the need for Congress to adopt another short-term funding extension to avoid a government shutdown.
“If things continue on this path and nothing stands in the way, we will be able to vote tomorrow,” Schumer said. “House and Senate.”
President Trump
Donald Trump: Trump signs bill to keep government open amid U.S. relief talks to shut down ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ trends of two Russian consulates on social media after the new name of the MORE Space Force he reflected on the issue just as Toomey and Schumer came to an agreement, paving the way for the rapid passage of the coronavirus relief package.
“Why isn’t Congress giving our people a stimulus bill? It wasn’t their fault, it was China’s fault. DO IT and give them more money in direct payments,” Trump tweeted. .
Saturday’s negotiation goes beyond more than seven months of fruitless talks between Democrats, the White House and Senate Republicans over the size and scope of a new coronavirus relief bill.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi
Nancy Pelosi: Night Health Care: CVS, Walgreens to start vaccines in nursing homes | Pence gets coronavirus vaccine on camera 8.2 million people sign up for ObamaCare McCarthy and Pelosi receive information from the FBI about Swalwell Trump being left out of the camera while the vaccine is being distributed MORE (D-California) and House Democrats proposed the $ 3.4 trillion heroes bill in May and then amended their request to $ 2.2 billion. trillion relief law in September.
Republicans in the White House and Senate countered the $ 1.1 trillion HEALS law they introduced in late July. The White House increased its bid to $ 1.8 trillion before the election, but Democrats rejected it as insufficient.
A Toomey spokesman hailed the deal as “an unreserved victory for taxpayers.”
“This agreement terminates more than $ 429 billion in unused funds from the CARES Act; finalizes the CARES Law loan facilities on December 31, 2020; prevents restarting these facilities; and prohibits them from duplicating without Congressional approval, ”said Steve Kelly, Toomey’s director of communications.
“This agreement will preserve the independence of the Fed and prevent Democrats from hijacking these programs for political and social policy purposes,” he added.
The compromise came after the sides went back and forth all day Saturday.
The dispute over the Federal Reserve’s credit lending facilities, which was settled under the CARES law in March, remained the last remaining point in negotiations to pass a new coronavirus relief bill before Christmas.
Republicans said they always wanted special lending authorities to expire later this year. They feared that Biden’s incoming administration might interpret the CARES Act in a way to extend special lending authority and possibly use it to fund its priorities.
For example, the Republican Party was concerned that progressives next year could use the authority of section 13 (3) of the Federal Reserve Act to achieve its goals of tackling climate change or resolving budget deficiencies. state and local.
The agreement clarifies the ambiguity as to whether the loan facilities will end on December 31st.
The compromise between the senators prompted the House vote Sunday as soon as possible for a combination of a coronavirus relief package and an omnibus spending bill.
The Senate will vote later Sunday before government funding expires at midnight, but the Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell
Addison (Mitch) Mitchell McConnellOn The Money: Congress Passes Bill to Avoid Closure as Coronavirus Talks Drag Over the Weekend | Federal Reserve fight endangers relief negotiations Congress passes bill to prevent closure as coronavirus talks drag on over the weekend. Pence gets coronavirus vaccine on camera 8.2 million people sign up for ObamaCare MORE (R-Ky.) He will have to obtain the consent of his 99 colleagues to waive procedural hurdles.
The legislation is also expected to include a package of extensions of expiring tax provisions.
It remains to be seen whether the energy legislation advocated by the Sen. Lisa Murkowski
Lisa Ann Murkowski Former union leader seen as Biden’s top candidate for Education Secretary. No, Biden hasn’t won yet: one more nightmare scenario The government’s spending bill to include bipartisan energy supplies MORE (R-Alaska), on which there is a bipartisan agreement, doubles in the larger agreement.
Chairman of the Senate Credit Committee Richard Shelby
Richard Craig ShelbyCongress will have to cross the deadline in the middle of talks on coronavirus The Hill’s Morning Report – Presented by Mastercard. Government funding, relief from COVID-19 hit last-minute problems | Major veteran groups are calling for Wilkie MORE to be fired (R-Wing.) He said Saturday afternoon that he was unaware that he was included at the time.
Updated at 1:07 p.m.