BREAKING: U.S. Congress to Vote on Stopgap Bill as COVID-19 Aid Talks Continue

Photo: Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Congress will vote this week on a one-week stopgap funding bill to provide more time for lawmakers to reach a deal on COVID-19 relief and an overarching spending bill to avoid a government shutdown.

Lawmakers in the Republican-led Senate and Democratic-run House of Representatives need to enact a government spending measure by Friday, when funding for federal agencies is set to expire. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell hope to attach long-awaited COVID-19 relief to a broad $1.4 trillion spending bill.

The pandemic has killed 282,000 people in the United States, thrown millions out of work and crippled businesses.

McConnell and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said separately on Monday that both chambers would vote this week on a measure to allow an additional week of talks.

A group of House and Senate lawmakers had been expected as early as Monday to issue a text of the bipartisan COVID-19 aid bill, which would provide economic support in the early days of President-elect Joe Biden's administration beginning on Jan 20.

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