The deal for the next interim coronavirus stimulus bill appears to have been struck, with a vote possible—probable?—at 4 PM ET Tuesday afternoon in the Senate. The Senate was scheduled to come in for a pro forma session, with the possibility that they'd use the opportunity to pass the bill by unanimous consent, or possibly by voice vote. At the last minute, very much was still up in the air.
The bill summary that Politico obtained has $310 billion for the Paycheck Protection Program of small business loans, $60 billion of which will be set aside for underbanked businesses. That's down from what had been initially reported as $125 billion for these smaller banks and businesses. Whether that was an error in previous reporting or Democrats have been talked down from that level isn't clear.
There's also $60 billion for loans and grants through the Economic Injury Disaster Loan Emergency, $10 billion of which is for the EIDL Advance program, which provides $10,000 in advance loan funds that doesn't have to be repaid, and another $50 billion to the regular EIDL program. There's also $75 billion for hospitals, and $25 billion for coronavirus testing, split between the states which will get $11 billion and the federal government.
What there isn't is money for the Postal Service, or vote-by-mail, or more money for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or indications that the loopholes in the last SBA loan tranche that was spent on some really big businesses have been closed. There isn't money for the state and local government who are facing serious revenue shortfalls because of the shutdowns. Everyone, including Trump (or the coherent person who takes over his Twitter for this kind of thing) promises there will be another big, Phase 4 bill that has that money. Everyone, that is, but Mitch McConnell who is mum on it. He was shoved out of the negotiation on this one again, mostly, and will definitely fight the next one.
Democrats can't let down. They've got to keep the momentum going and keep Treasury Secretary Mnuchin talking with them. Speaker Pelosi needs to own the next big round to make sure that it takes care of the people, all the people, rather than Republican cronies.