Congress on brink of deal on $900 billion relief package after resolving key dispute

Lawmakers have yet to see any details of the relief plan — nor have they seen bill text of the massive $1.4 trillion spending package that must pass Congress to keep the government open past Sunday. Any senator can delay a vote for days if they are dissatisfied with the process or policy. Plus it’s uncertain how President Donald Trump will respond, given he’s been disengaged from the talks and consumed with his election loss.

Still, the late agreement over the disputed provision likely clears the way for a hectic Sunday where the leaders of the four caucuses will brief their members, attempt to schedule quick votes and jam the bill through Congress in a matter of hours — a process almost unheard of for a bill of this size and scope.

With Americans eager for relief, impatience is growing in the ranks as both sides recognize a deal must be reached Sunday or the talks could collapse completely.

Sen. Chris Coons, a Delaware Democrat, said that a deal will either be reached Sunday on a compromise, or one side needs to make a “hard decision” about how to proceed.

“This cannot go on,” Coons said.

Republicans argue that the Fed’s emergency lending program, created under the March CARES Act, needs to be wound down as envisioned by that law, saying leaving it open would amount to a slush fund for the incoming Biden administration.

But Democrats argue that the authority is essential to continue to prop up the economy and say that the provision to wind it down — pushed chiefly by Toomey — would tie the hands of President-elect Joe Biden’s team.

“After going back and forth all day with Leader Schumer, Sen. Toomey has agreed to drop the broad language in his proposal that would have prevented the Fed Chair from establishing similar facilities in the future to the ones created in March,” a senior Democratic aide said. “Compromise language is being finalized and, now that this obstacle has been cleared, a final agreement on an emergency relief package is significantly closer.”

But Republicans also declared victory.

“This agreement rescinds more than $429 billion in unused CARES Act funds; definitively ends the CARES Act lending facilities by December 31, 2020; stops these facilities from being restarted; and forbids them from being duplicated without congressional approval,” Toomey spokesman Steve Kelly said in a statement. “This agreement will preserve Fed independence and prevent Democrats from hijacking these programs for political and social policy purposes.”

“Now that Democrats have agreed to a version of Senator Toomey’s important language, we can begin closing out the rest of the package to deliver much-needed relief to families, workers, and businesses,” said Doug Andres, a spokesman for McConnell.

A long day of talks

Schumer had engaged in talks with Toomey throughout Saturday, and other Democrats were also taking part in the talks.

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, an Arizona Democrat, met privately with Toomey and the two had discussed how to pare back Toomey’s proposal. The discussions led to further exchanges with McConnell and other top Republicans to see if they can get a deal.

Leaving the Senate floor on Saturday, Sen. Bill Cassidy, a Louisiana Republican, said he thinks they will be able to get a deal.

“I think they’re going to resolve it,” Cassidy said, with a “more narrow focus.”

Schumer indicated on a call with Senate Democrats that if a deal is reached, a vote could happen in the Senate on Sunday night or Monday — but that would take consent of all 100 senators to allow that vote to happen.

Senate Majority Whip John Thune warned on Saturday that the effort to finalize a deal could spill over into Monday.

“I’m still somewhat hopeful we could wrap this up if the House moves quickly and we got it, take it up, and do it tomorrow night, but I would say it’s also very possible that it rolls into Monday,” he said.

Throughout the day, however, the two sides had appeared to be dug in over the issue.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin had told GOP senators on a conference call that they still had not resolved the fight over whether to pare back the emergency lending programs of the Federal Reserve, according to a source on the call.

Democrats publicly and privately agreed.

“We had this big issue, a last, kind of, minute thing with Mr. Toomey. And that has to be…