Congress lurches to recess, passes budget and COVID relief

As the deadline for a government shutdown approached in hours and the end of federal unemployment supplements and the eviction moratorium was days away, congressional negotiators finally agreed on an omnibus budget and a COVID relief bill. The bill is intended to be attached to the omnibus budget, which must be passed to keep the government open.

After hastily enacting the widely praised CARES Act in early spring 2020, which pumped $2 trillion into the economy in a variety of programs, Congress has remained on the sidelines. By May, House Democrats, responding to falling retail sales, persistent high unemployment figures, and stubborn virus incidence, passed the $3.2 trillion HEROES Act. Perhaps misled by hopes that the virus would fade with the summer or distracted by the presidential and congressional election campaigns, the Republican-controlled Senate refused to consider additional financial support. That position did not change despite the surge in COVID hospitalizations and deaths, which led to expanding limitations on business activity throughout the country. Vacillating positions from the White House further deterred Senate action.

With the election of Joe Biden on the one hand and the success of down-ballot Republicans on the other, a small bipartisan coalition of centrist Senators worked to end the gridlock by proposing a much smaller, more narrowly targeted relief bill that would not break the trillion-dollar threshold. This goal was achieved by removing the most controversial elements of the bill—support for state and local governments and a sweeping protection from liability for employers—and putting them in a separate bill.