"Christmas miracle" in Washington: hope for a recovery plan is reborn

The long-awaited economic aid by millions of Americans and small businesses could finally arrive, elected Republicans and Democrats in Congress having presented Monday, December 14 a common proposal and called on their leaders to pass it before Christmas.

Aid to millions of unemployed, measures to prevent evictions, loans to small businesses, food assistance ... In total, 908 billion dollars could be released.

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"I think a Christmas miracle happened in Washington,"

said Republican Senator Susan Collins at a press conference organized by elected officials from both sides.

“They say it's not possible.

But today

(...)

a vaccine has been deployed and Republicans and Democrats from both chambers

(of Congress)

have worked together and drafted a text, ”

said Josh Gottheimer, elected Democrat in the House of Representatives and co-chair of the committee in charge of finding compromises between the two parties.

The compromise, which was unveiled in early December and was formally presented on Monday after two more weeks of work to try to find an agreement, represents an important step, as negotiations have been slipping since July.

Above all, the expiration, on Boxing Day, of the aid adopted in the spring in the gigantic stimulus package of 2.200 billion dollars, risks leaving at least 12 million Americans without income overnight, according to studies.

Disagreements persist

But the joint proposal between Democrats and Republicans does not mean that aid is on the way.

There are several steps left before the text is adopted.

The most important will be to convince the leaders of the majorities of each of the two chambers to put this proposal on the agenda, so that the elected officials can vote.

The ball is in the court of Nancy Pelosi, leader of the Democrats in the House of Representatives, and Mitch McConnell, her Republican counterpart in the Senate.

"We implore our officials on both sides to take this text and incorporate it into any proposal that is on this week's agenda"

, so that the adoption can be as urgent as the situation requires, Democratic Senator Mark Warner said at the same press conference.

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Once passed the hurdle of Congress, the offer will need to be approved by outgoing President Donald Trump.

Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin spoke in the early evening for about twenty minutes about the ongoing negotiations on the support plan as well as on the budget law, according to a tweet from the spokesperson for the head of House Democrats, Drew Hammill.

“Recognizing the need to reach a final agreement together and quickly on these two issues this week, (they) discussed the urgency for the committees to complete their work as soon as possible,”

he added.

Despite the compromises found, disagreements persist, and the proposal has been split into two distinct parts: the consensual measures, for 748 billion dollars, and the two subjects which are still problematic, for 160 billion.

Democrats are indeed asking for help from local communities, whose revenues have fallen but which bear many additional expenses related to Covid-19.

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As for the Republicans, they are calling for legal protection for companies, universities and schools, against possible prosecution in the event of contamination with Covid-19 of an employee or a student.

"So that doctors and hospitals, schools, universities, small and large businesses are not prosecuted because people have caught the Covid,"

said Republican Senator Mitt Romney.

But Democrats fear it will put workers at risk, prompting employers to do nothing to protect them.

In addition to this proposal, supported by elected officials from both parties, two other offers are also on the table.

The Trump administration formulated one at $ 916 billion, which was immediately rejected by the leaders of the Democratic opposition, in disagreement with the measures included in it.

As for the leader of the Republicans in the Senate, Mitch McConnell, he favors targeted measures, for about 500 billion dollars.