US Senate will seek deal on $1 trillion coronavirus economic aid package

WASHINGTON - US Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell introduced emergency legislation on Thursday to stem the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, and Republicans and Democrats agreed to meet on Friday to seek an agreement.

The $1 trillion-plus package will include direct financial help for Americans, relief for small businesses and their employees, steps to stabilize the economy and new support for healthcare professionals and coronavirus patients, McConnell said.

"We are ready to act as soon as agreement with our colleagues across the aisle can be reached," he said on the Senate floor. "The Senate is not going anywhere until we take action."

A vote could still be days away, said Republican Senator Lamar Alexander.

McConnell also said Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow would be on Capitol Hill on Friday to work with lawmakers from both parties toward an agreement.

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said Democrats were ready.

"We look forward to working with them to come up with a bipartisan product," he said. But he stressed any "bailout" of industries must be aimed at helping workers, not executives or shareholders.

In a joint statement, Schumer and House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the Republican bill "is not at all pro-worker and instead puts corporations way ahead of workers"。

Senator Patrick Leahy, the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, said in a statement the bill did not adequately fund federal, state and local efforts against the coronavirus and "contains no funding for first responders, child care, schools, help for the homeless, or veterans medical care."

The package is the third taken up by Congress since the coronavirus erupted in the United States, infecting 12,259 people and killing 200, shutting schools, businesses and wide swaths of American life, and sending the stock market into a tailspin.

A key plank is a direct payment of up to $1,200 for individuals and $2,400 for couples below a certain income threshold, along with $500 for each child in the family, a Senate Finance Committee statement said.

The maximum payments would be for those individuals earning no more than $75,000, and $150,000 for a couple, it said. Above those levels, payments would be reduced, and totally phased out at $99,000 for an individual and $198,000 for couples.

Reuters