D.C. lawmakers are increasingly confident a new roughly 900 billion dollar COVID relief bill will soon be passed.
Senator Bill Cassidy said one big sticking point left is Republicans want businesses to be shielded from COVID-related lawsuits, and Democrats want to ensure if someone has a claim they have a right to sue.
“I am hoping that there is a middle ground there. We certainly do not want people going bankrupt from lawsuits after we spent so much money and so much effort keeping them going during the pandemic,” said Cassidy.
Cassidy is part of the bipartisan team that resuscitated negotiations that had collapsed pre-Presidential election with a trimmed-down bill including some priorities from both parties.
The White House is pushing for a new round of stimulus checks in lieu of federally boosted unemployment, but Cassidy said this isn’t a stimulus bill.
“There may be a need for another stimulus but right now we are just trying to keep businesses afloat and try to keep those who are unemployed able to continue paying their rent,” said Cassidy.
Negotiators seemingly have agreed that the Payroll Protection Program must be refunded, and re-administered with a more targeted focus for businesses most impacted by the pandemic.
Cassidy said an agreement is right around the corner.
“We would like to have language out Thursday or Friday, Friday at the latest but hopefully Thursday afternoon showing that we have bridged these divides,” said Cassidy.
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