The package under discussion on Wednesday was expected to exclude the two thorniest issues: funding for state and local governments and liability protections for businesses and other entities operating during the pandemic, according to people familiar with the talks.
But congressional leaders were expected to add direct checks, potentially of a smaller size than the initial round, which provided $1,200 to individuals and $500 per dependent.
The package was also expected to include enhanced unemployment insurance, among other measures. Congressional aides noted that the negotiations were continuing and no final agreement had been reached.
The overall cost of the package under discussion Wednesday was slightly under $900 billion, according to people familiar with the talks.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.), Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.), Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.) met multiple times on Tuesday, talking late into the night, and were expected to continue their negotiations Wednesday.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin joined the two meetings by phone. The Trump administration has previously proposed sending $600 checks.
“We made major headway toward hammering out a targeted pandemic relief package that would be able to pass both chambers with bipartisan majorities,” Mr. McConnell said on the Senate floor on Wednesday.
“We are close to an agreement. It’s not a done deal yet, but we are very close,” Mr. Schumer said on the Senate floor. “For Democrats, this has always been about getting the American people the relief they need at a time of an acute national crisis.”
Mr. Schumer, without offering specifics, said that Democrats would seek further aid next year with the new administration.
Congressional leaders have said they plan to attach a coronavirus relief package to a spending bill needed to keep the government running when its current funding expires at 12:01 a.m. Saturday. That gives leaders only a few days to complete the aid package and spending bill and approve them in both chambers. Lawmakers and aides said they were making good progress completing the full-year spending bill.
The negotiations appeared likely to leave aside the two most difficult components, a move GOP leaders began calling for last week, but with the late addition of direct checks, which many Democrats and some Republicans have sought. Sens. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) and Josh Hawley (R., Mo.) have been among the loudest proponents of adding a second round of direct payments, which are also broadly popular with the public.
“The thing our constituents are asking us the most is: Will this package put money in our pockets?” said Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D., Wash.), chairwoman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, which has pushed for another round of direct payments. “Congress must respond at the scale necessary and ensure that we get direct relief to people across our country.”
For weeks, Democrats had sought to include funding for state and local governments facing budget shortfalls after months of pandemic-related closures and economic fallout. Republicans had resisted, saying not all states needed an infusion of aid.
Meanwhile, Mr. McConnell and GOP lawmakers had pushed for legal protections for businesses, schools and nonprofits operating during the pandemic, saying that liability limits would help the economy fully reopen. Democrats said they were concerned that the GOP proposals went too far and wouldn’t incentivize businesses to take necessary precautions to protect workers.
The top four congressional leaders began negotiating in person Tuesday, one day after a bipartisan group released a $748 billion bill that fleshed out their framework for an emergency relief deal through March. The largely rank-and-file group, which had initially proposed a $908 billion offer, spun off the two most contentious elements, the state and local government funding and liability protections, into a separate bill.
The $748 billion bill, which the bipartisan group unanimously supported, includes an additional $300 a week to state unemployment insurance recipients for 16 weeks, $300 billion for small businesses, including another round of the Paycheck Protection Program, $35 billion for health-care providers and $82 billion for schools.
Mr. Schumer said Tuesday that he hoped to beef up the proposal’s $6 billion for vaccine distribution, as the first doses of a vaccine were administered this week. The bipartisan coalition also included roughly $10 billion for testing and tracing of the virus.
Both Democratic and GOP leaders have said Congress shouldn’t adjourn until they have passed a coronavirus aid package. Mr. McConnell has said that lawmakers will be able to revisit the issues of state and local funding and liability protections next year, since President-elect Joe Biden has said that anything Congress passes this year will just be a down payment on further assistance needed.
“We all know the new administration’s going to be asking for yet another package. It’s not like we won’t have another opportunity to debate the merits of liability reform and state and local government in the very near future,” Mr. McConnell said.
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said Tuesday that President Trump, who has called for a new round of checks to most Americans, would wait and see what a possible deal looks like.
“He’s said that he would really like to see those stimulus checks in there, but his priority at the end of the day is getting relief to the American people,” she said. “We’re hopeful there will be some sort of agreement.”