Sen. Joe Manchin said the $908 billion bipartisan coronavirus relief package will be revealed by the end of the day Monday.
Mr. Manchin, one of the leading senators in the bipartisan “908 coalition,” said negotiators worked throughout the weekend to finalize their proposal.
“There’s no way — no way that we’re going to leave Washington without taking care of the emergency needs of our people,” the West Virginia Democrat said on “Fox News Sunday.” “We’ve been meeting day and night for the last month … we’ll have a bill produced for the American people tomorrow.”
Last week, the lawmakers struggled to work out a satisfactory agreement on funding for state and local government and liability protections.
The two issues — opposing top priorities for Democrats and Republicans — have been at the center of collapsed COVID-relief deals since the summer.
Some Senate Republicans have publicly suggested dropping both issues from a potential deal and pass only the most widely agreed upon programs, like the Paycheck Protection Program, school funds and vaccine distribution aid.
Mr. Manchin, however, dismissed that as “the easy way out.”
“We’re going to make the tough selection,” he said. “We’ve done everything we can to put an all-inclusive product together — pick whatever part you like, whatever part you don’t like, put it all together or take it as a whole. We’re going to give it to you the way we think the American people need it in an emergency situation.”
• Gabriella Muñoz can be reached at gmunoz@washingtontimes.com.
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