Earlier this week, a bipartisan/bicameral group of lawmakers unveiled the details of their $908 billion coronavirus (COVID-19) relief package. The package contains two separate bills – one which outlined approximately $750 billion of relatively non-controversial pandemic relief spending; the second contained a controversial $160 billion plan to provide state and local aid along with liability protections for businesses that remain open during the pandemic. However, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) said he supported dropping the "two most contentious items for the moment" — liability protections and aid to state and local governments — that have stalled negotiations and prevented Congress from passing any meaningful COVID-19 legislation since March. "We all know that the new Administration is going to be asking for yet another package. It's not like we won't have another opportunity to debate the merits of liability reform and of state and local government in the very near future," Majority Leader McConnell said. At the time of this writing, it appears that the state and local aid/business liability protections will not move forward before the new 117th Congress is sworn in the first days of January. Passage of the primary relief bill remains difficult but doable before the end of the year as it is caught-up in the complex process of completing an overall federal spending plan for the 2021 fiscal year.
