As a year fraught with uncertainty winds down to a close, Americans are still wondering about the status of another stimulus check.
Lawmakers in Washington have signaled that an agreement on another bill may not be as far off as the last few months of back-and-forth negotiations suggest.
On Wednesday, Congressional leaders expressed that they are close to consensus on a $900 billion COVID-19 relief bill, and that agreement could be reached as soon as the end of this week, reports the Washington Post.
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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi met with senior Congressional members on Tuesday to negotiate the terms and shape that the final bill will take.
The discussions, held with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), were described by negotiators as productive, the Post reports.
“The stimulus package is encouraging. It looks like it’s very, very close,” President-Elect Joe Biden remarked on Wednesday in Wilmington, Delaware. “It’s a down payment. An important down payment that’s going to have to be done ... It’s very important to get done.”
The bill is expected to include billions in aid for small businesses and unemployed Americans.
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Tens of billions of dollars in funds would also be allocated to vaccine distribution and schools.
The package is also expected to include another stimulus check paid directly to Americans, this time somewhere between $600 and $700, less than the $1,200 in aid sent out under March’s CARES Act.
An initial $908 billion version of the proposed bill did not include stimulus checks. However, an inability to reach common ground on aid to state and local governments freed up around $160 billion in funds to be used for another check.
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