| | | It takes deep into the WSJ story to see the 47-47 needed 60 to pass, and they'll vote to pass it Monday.
Updated March 22, 2020 10:53 pm ET
Lawmakers and administration officials still hope to reach an agreement on a deal worth as much as $1.3 trillion to allow both chambers of Congress to approve it as the week opened Monday. Negotiations stretched late into the night after Democrats blocked a GOP proposal.
“We will continue to work with Democrats and Republicans on a package in an effort to finalize it tonight,” said Eric Ueland, the White House legislative director. Shortly after the procedural vote failed, Dow futures fell 5%, hitting the trigger that halts trading.
The number of confirmed cases in the U.S. surpassed 32,000 on Sunday, a 10-fold increase from a week earlier, and for senators, the virus hit home, with Sen. Rand Paul, a Kentucky Republican, becoming the first to announce a positive test for Covid-19.
Two other GOP senators who had closely interacted with Mr. Paul said they would quarantine, narrowing the Republican majority in the Senate.
Democrats blocked a procedural vote on Sunday evening, saying the package designed by Republicans with Democratic input favored corporations and didn’t go far enough to aid individuals facing unemployment and loss of income. The motion to advance the legislation failed on a 47-47 vote, short of the 60 votes needed.
Following the vote, Senate Republican and Democratic leaders blamed one another for the impasse, but vowed to continue working on the plan. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said later Sunday that a second procedural vote would be held at 9:45 a.m. Monday—15 minutes after the opening of U.S. markets, he noted.
That vote will be held unless the two sides reach an agreement before then, Mr. McConnell said.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said House Democrats planned to introduce their own legislation, saying there were big differences between what her caucus wanted and what Republican were proposing. Should the two chambers each attempt to pass their own legislation first and then negotiate, it could significantly lengthen the time it takes Congress to pass a bill. |
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