Congress is inching closer to an agreement on a compromise COVID-19 relief package that will include renewed federal unemployment benefits and another round of checks being sent to all Americans.

On Wednesday, Senate Leader Mitch McConnell (R–Ky.) urged his Republican colleagues to pass a relief bill that includes one-time checks of either $600 or $700, in part to shore up public support for GOP candidates Sens. Kelly Loeffler (R–Ga.) and David Perdue (R–Ga.) in Georgia's January runoff election, reports The New York Times.

A vote on this package could come as early as Friday. That's the same day that Congress will have to pass a funding bill for federal agencies in order to avoid a government shutdown. The final price tag for this second relief bill is currently estimated at $908 billion.

In order to cover the cost of relief checks—a policy goal that's attracted support from as diverse a duo as Sen. Josh Hawley (R–Mo.) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I–Vt.)—lawmakers have decided to go with a less generous extension of federal unemployment benefits.

HuffPost reports that the new bill will provide jobless workers with an additional $300 a week in expanded federal unemployment benefits for three months, instead of the four months included in a bipartisan relief bill from earlier this week that's serving as the basis for negotiations.

That $300 a week amount would equate to your average out-of-work person making roughly the same as if they were still working.



Trimming back unemployment benefits in favor of relief checks for the gainfully employed has sparked criticism in some quarters. "There's no reason whatsoever to pay for relief checks by cutting the incomes of jobless workers," Sen. Ron Wyden (D–Ore.) told HuffPost.

Meanwhile, some progressives in Congress are pretty miffed that these relief payments will only be $600 or $700, not the $1,200 that had passed as part of the CARES Act back in March. The Washington Post reports that Sanders could potentially grind the whole deal over the reduced checks.

Also included in this latest relief package is another $300 billion in aid to small businesses, $25 billion in assistance to emergency housing assistance, and a month-long extension of the federal eviction moratorium issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). That mortarium expires at the end of the year.