Senate Passes Emergency Bill for Coronavirus Relief Funds ... Now on to the House ... What Could Go Wrong?

AP Photo/Patrick Semansky

The Senate passed the nearly $500 billion interim emergency coronavirus relief bill Tuesday afternoon, providing much-needed funds to shore up hard-hit businesses and the health care system.

The bill passed on a voice vote.

“This is even more money than we had first requested,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on the floor. “In the intervening time, and at our request, this new money puts a special focus on community banks and credit unions. Senate Republicans wanted more funding for Americans’ paychecks nearly two weeks ago, before the program even shut down. But in the days that our Democratic colleagues delayed these urgent funds, additional federal help for hospitals, health care providers, and testing became timely as well.”

The vast majority of the funds — about $320 billion — will go to replenishing the small business paycheck protection program (PPP) that dried up Friday. Of that, $60 billion will be set aside for small business lenders and community banks.

LINK: GOP fears ‘abuses of power’ if Nancy Pelosi
allows proxy on coronavirus aid

It will also include funds for an expanded list of programs that Democrats had pushed for over a week of negotiations: $60 billion for small business loans and grants in economic disaster funds, $75 billion for hospitals, and $25 billion for coronavirus testing. At least $11 billion of testing funds will be given to states and tribes to oversee. Up to $1 billion can be used to test the uninsured.

Read the rest of the story HERE and follow link below to a related story:

GOP fears ‘abuses of power’ if Nancy Pelosi allows proxy on coronavirus aid

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