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Biden touts $28.6B restaurant relief program, orders tacos

Setting foot in a restaurant for his first time as president, Joe Biden made a Cinco de Mayo taco and enchilada run to highlight his administration’s $28.6 billion program to help eateries that lost business because of the coronavirus pandemic. The president went to Taqueria Las Gemelas in Washington on Wednesday and ordered lunch. The […]

Dems tighten relief benefits, firm up support for virus bill

President Joe Biden and Democrats agreed to tighten eligibility limits for stimulus checks Wednesday, bowing to party moderates as leaders prepared to move their $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill through the Senate. At the same time, the White House and top Democrats stood by progressives and agreed that the Senate package would retain the $400 […]

Obamacare enrollment reopens for Americans in need of coverage amid pandemic

The federal health insurance marketplace, Healthcare.gov, reopened Monday for a special enrollment period that will run through mid-May as part of efforts by President Biden to ensure that Americans in need of insurance coverage during the coronavirus pandemic have access to health care. “Health care is a right, not a privilege — and I will […]

White House begins talks with lawmakers on COVID-19 relief

Top aides to President Joe Biden have begun talks with a group of moderate Senate Republicans and Democrats on a $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package as Biden faces increasing headwinds in his effort to win bipartisan backing for the initial legislative effort of his presidency. Lawmakers on the right question the wisdom of racking up […]

House approves Trump’s $2K checks, sending to GOP-led Senate

The House voted Monday to increase COVID-19 relief checks to $2,000, meeting President Donald Trump’s demand for bigger payments and sending the bill to the GOP-controlled Senate, where the outcome is uncertain. Democrats led passage, 275-134, their majority favoring additional assistance. They had settled for smaller $600 payments in a compromise with Republicans over the […]

Lawmakers press Trump on relief bill as jobless aid expires

The fate of an end-of-year COVID-19 relief and spending bill remained in doubt Sunday as millions lost unemployment aid, the government barreled toward a mid-pandemic shutdown and lawmakers implored President Donald Trump to act. Trump blindsided members of both parties and upended months of negotiations when he demanded last week that the package — already […]

GOP blocks $2,000 checks as Trump leaves COVID aid in chaos

President Donald Trump’s sudden demand for $2,000 checks for most Americans was swiftly rejected by House Republicans on Thursday as his haphazard actions throw a massive COVID relief and government funding bill into chaos. The rare Christmas Eve session of the House lasted just minutes, with help for millions of Americans awaiting Trump’s signature on […]

Congress rushes toward vote on $900B COVID relief bill

After months of Washington gridlock, Congress is set to vote on a $900 billion pandemic relief package, finally delivering long-sought cash to businesses and individuals as well as resources to vaccinate a nation confronting a frightening surge in COVID-19 cases and deaths. Lawmakers tacked on thousands of pages of other end-of-session business in a burst […]

Agreement likely Sunday on nearly $1 trillion virus aid bill

Top Washington negotiators, propelled by a late-night agreement on the last major obstacle to a COVID-19 economic relief package, said a Sunday agreement is all but inevitable to deliver long-overdue pandemic aid of almost $1 trillion. “I am very hopeful that we get this done today,” House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., told Fox News […]

Negotiators near agreement on long-delayed COVID-19 aid bill

Congressional negotiators closed in Wednesday on a $900 billion COVID-19 relief package that would deliver additional “paycheck protection” subsidies to businesses, $300 per week jobless checks, and $600 or so stimulus payments to most Americans. The long-delayed measure was coming together as Capitol Hill combatants finally fashioned difficult compromises, often at the expense of more […]