WASHINGTON _ Congressional leaders continued negotiations Sunday on an enormous financial stimulus package meant to steer the U.S. economy through the coronavirus crisis and help ordinary Americans weather devastating job losses with lawmakers still diverging on key points of the nearly $1.4 trillion plan.
With the Senate scheduled to take an important procedural vote Sunday afternoon, Democrats will have to decide whether to accept the current version of the deal, which they consider inadequate and hope that Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) can add to when it lands in the House or stall the bill in the Senate in hope of forcing the Republican majority to make more concessions.
Pelosi said Sunday that House Democrats would being drafting their own bill.
"We'll be introducing our own bill and hopefully it will be compatible" with what the Senate passes, Pelosi told reporters.
Earlier, Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin voiced optimism about hammering out differences so that the measure could be approved on Monday.
"We need the money now," he said.
Mnuchin said the plan, which would include direct payments to individuals and families, expanded unemployment benefits and a massive loan program to tide over small businesses, is intended as a bridge to get the country through the worst of the crisis, with the possibility of increases later.
"I think the president has every expectation that this is going to look a lot better four or eight weeks from now," Mnuchin said of the outbreak and efforts to contain it. "If for any reason, 10 weeks from now with this virus, we haven't won this, we'll go back to Congress again."
Democrats say the GOP bill provides money to support large businesses with not enough regulation to ensure that the money gets to workers.
One Democratic aide called it "a poorly restricted slush fund."
Another chief concern is that the bill doesn't ensure that patients who have COVID-19 _ or are hospitalized over concern they have it_will be guaranteed they can be treated. A law approved last week_the second coronavirus law_would ensure that people don't have to pay for testing, but did not include a guarantee that treatment would be paid for.
