WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) — Lawmakers on Capitol Hill say they are close to a COVID-19 relief deal.
“It encapsulates a lot of the common ground areas that we’ve been trying to get more relief for,” Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W. Va.) said.
Capito says the support for schools, unemployment, and state and local governments, makes this framework ideal.
“There’s still some pretty major hurdles to get over right now still, but this framework is very good, I think, and I’m very much in favor of it,” Capito said.
Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) says he’s seeing more of his colleagues rally to the plan.
“Many in the Senate who were not formally in the group of eight are weighing in and saying ‘Hey I like this proposal,'” Kaine said.
Kaine says he’s working with other senators to resolve one of the framework’s remaining obstacles, Liability protections.
“And we’ve made real progress on that. We’ve narrowed the differences down.”
Some lawmakers on both sides of the aisle want to remind the American people that this bill isn’t the last bit of relief coming from the government.
“This is not a do-all, end-all. This is a COVID emergency relief framework. A relief package,” Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) said.
Manchin says the one wild card is Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who continues to advocate for a narrower proposal.
“If we put a bipartisan bill together and he squashes it or tries to squash it, then you know what, we’re going to be here for quite a while. Guess what Mitch, you might miss Christmas in Kentucky. Might be Christmas in DC,” Manchin said.
Congress currently has until Dec. 18 to pass a COVID-19 relief bill.
