'We Have a Deal' on $2T Relief Package

'Help is on the way, big help and quick help'
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 25, 2020 2:48 AM CDT
Updated Mar 25, 2020 6:31 AM CDT
'We Have a Deal' on $2T Relief Package
"Help is on the way, big help and quick help," Schumer says.   (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

"Ladies and gentlemen, we are done. We have a deal," top White House aide Eric Ueland announced early Wednesday after the White House and Senate leaders reached agreement on the biggest economic relief package in American history. The $2 trillion measure to help workers, businesses, and the health care system deal with the effects of the coronavirus pandemic will include $1,200 checks for many Americans and a $367 billion loan program for small businesses, the Washington Post reports. "Help is on the way, big help and quick help," said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat. "We’re going to take up and pass this package to care for those who are now caring for us, and help carry millions of Americans through these dark economic times."

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican, said he is "thrilled that we’re finally going to deliver for the country that has been waiting for us to step up." The deal was reached after what the New York Times describes as a "furious final round of haggling" between McConnell, Schumer, and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. One of the last issues to be resolved was a $500 billion plan for subsidized loans to large industries hit hard by the outbreak, including the airlines, the AP reports. The Senate is expected to pass the bill Wednesday but it could take longer to pass in the House, which is out of session, unless lawmakers agree to pass it with unanimous consent, reports the Post. (More coronavirus stories.)

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