The U.S. Congress on Monday inched toward a $450 billion deal to help small businesses and hospitals hurt by the coronavirus pandemic, with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi saying negotiators had come to terms on the 'principles' of the package as the Senate set a Tuesday session for a potential vote.
Republicans and Democrats have been battling for more than a week over what to include in the fourth round of financial stimulus intended to ease the heavy economic toll of a pandemic that has killed more than 42,000 Americans.
The two sides had sought to finish the package earlier on Monday, but failed amid continued disagreements over, among other things, a coronavirus testing strategy. Pelosi had told fellow congressional Democrats on a conference call she believed an agreement could be reached on Monday night, and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said a vote was possible on the House of Representatives floor on Wednesday, according to a Democratic aide familiar with the call.
"Testing is one of the places where we want the language to be as good as we can agree to; that we need a national strategy for testing," Pelosi said. Zeldin said at least $50 billion more would be available for a separate small-business loan program under the deal, a provision still under negotiation. A Democratic source familiar with the talks has said that figure was more likely to be $60 billion.
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