The U.S. has reached 200,000 deaths from the coronavirus. Now experts are looking ahead, and the forecast for the fall and winter isn’t good.
USA TODAY
WASHINGTON – The Senate on Wednesday passed a spending measure to keep federal agencies running hours before the government was set to shut down.
The legislation will now head to President Donald Trump, who is expected to sign off on the bill.
The overwhelming 84 – 10 vote marked a bipartisan push to keep the government funded in the midst of a global pandemic that has left many Americans more reliant on the federal government.
The legislation passed just hours before the annual spending bill would expire at midnight, leaving federal agencies across the country without money to continue operating. It extends government funding levels until Dec. 11 – a month after the election.
Lawmakers added last-minute pandemic relief funding before the bill was approved in the House Sept. 22, which gave it bipartisan support. The bill includes billions for a farm bailout program pushed by Republicans as farmers continue to be affected by the Trump administration’s trade policies and the pandemic’s impact on agriculture. Democrats got more money – $8 billion – for pandemic food assistance programs for families.
More: House OKs spending bill, sending legislation to Senate days before government set to shutdown
More: White House and Congress reach informal deal to avert government shutdown at end of month
More: The battle in Congress to replace Ruth Bader Ginsburg dashes hopes for a COVID-19 relief package
The two additions marked the only pandemic-related relief in the bill. Though pressure has mounted for Congress to pass more COVID-19 relief, lawmakers have been at an impasse for months over the size and scope of an aid bill. Negotiations appeared all but dead, but House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin have restarted talks.
House Democrats introduced another coronavirus bill Monday with a $2 trillion price tag that is set to be approved by the chamber Wednesday evening. It is not likely to be considered by the Republican-controlled Senate.
The last government shutdown from December 2018 to January 2019 was the longest on record, at 35 days. Stemming from a standoff between Congress and the White House over funding for a wall along the southern U.S. border, it forced about 800,000 federal government workers to take furloughs or go without pay.
Sarah Binder, professor of political science at George Washington University and a Brookings Institution senior fellow, said it would be a “catastrophic blow” to have a shutdown in the middle of the pandemic, especially if workers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and National Institutes of Health were furloughed. COVID-19 has taken more than 206,000 American lives.
“Nobody really wants to be blamed for the government shutdown,” especially so close to an election, she said.
Contributing: Nicholas Wu
President Donald Trump said during a campaign rally in Wisconsin on Thursday night that three potential coronavirus vaccines are in the final stage of clinical trials and a safe and effective vaccine will be out before the end of the year. (Sept. 18)
AP Domestic
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