Republican lawmakers want to add $250 billion to the $350 billion small-business support plan approved in late March. While Democrats say they, too, support more money for the fund, they also want to expand access to the loans. In addition, they want to include $100 billion for hospitals and $150 billion for state and local governments along with the small-business aid.

Talks slowed over the weekend as negotiators observed the Easter holiday. Lawmakers are seeking agreement early this week.

The small-business program, which Congress created in a $2.2 trillion relief bill passed last month, has approved $178 billion in loans鈥攎ore than half its $350 billion total, according to Sen. Marco Rubio (R., Fla.), chairman of the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.) reiterated in a statement Saturday their desire to approve only small-business aid in the short term, writing that further action should wait for future legislation.

鈥淭his will not be Congress鈥檚 last word on COVID-19, but this crucial program needs funding now,鈥� the top Republicans on Capitol Hill said.

President Trump has also called for speedy passage of a measure focused just on small business.

Democrats want changes to the small-business loan program to help firms that were initially shut out of the assistance receive funds going forward.

Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D., Md.) said Saturday that the Senate should do more than increase the small-business funding. 鈥淲e also need to ensure the funds are going to everybody who needs it, not just businesses with the best banking connections,鈥� he said.

Democrats also say additional aid to state and local governments is just as urgent as expanding the small-business program. The National Governors Association鈥攍ed by Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican, and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat鈥攃alled on the federal government to provide immediately $500 billion in aid to state governments.

The pair warned in a statement Saturday that without new funding, states鈥攚hose budgets have been decimated by the pandemic鈥攎ay soon need to cut other government services. They said federal aid shouldn鈥檛 be limited to coronavirus-related expenses and should help cover broader budget gaps.

鈥淚n the absence of unrestricted fiscal support of at least $500 billion from the federal government, states will have to confront the prospect of significant reductions to critically important services all across this country,鈥� the governors said.

House Minority Whip聽Steve Scalise asked聽Democrats聽not聽to play games with emergency relief bills.

鈥淒on鈥檛 play聽games and say, 鈥業聽will give you that and keep this successful program alive if聽you give me these other things, like聽the Kennedy Center debacle,鈥欌�� he said. 鈥淲e聽got to stay away from those kinds of games. Hopefully we can聽get focused back on making sure this Paycheck Protection聽Program stays afloat, not just for the million聽businesses that聽already applied, but for the other maybe million businesses that聽are waiting to come.鈥�

Republicans have indicated that they are open to providing more funding to state and local governments and hospitals鈥攂ut in a later bill. Lawmakers are treating the negotiations over the current changes as an interim step before a bigger, more ambitious relief package.

Ahead of talks on a broader relief bill, some Democrats are seeking changes to the way aid is disbursed, proposing public assistance that automatically kicks in during bad economic conditions.

Source: Wall Street Journal

鈥淲e are within range of a substantially improved agreement for America鈥檚 workers,鈥� Pelosi said in a statement. 鈥淣ow, we need to see our progress in writing from (U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer) for final review.鈥�

Even if Pelosi and Lighthizer formally announce their agreement soon, there鈥檚 very little time left on the legislative calendar for Congress to ratify USMCA before the end of the year. And, this is not the last hurdle to clear to finalize the tract pact.

The Pass USMCA Coalition, to which this Association belongs, continues to call on lawmakers to approve the trade pact.

In information it recently shared with members, it points out that this proposed deal gives unprecedented attention to small businesses, including establishing a special committee to help more small firms sell their goods internationally.

The trade deal also would increase the quantity of U.S. dairy products sold in Canada by 250 percent. It maintains the zero tariff and quota rates on certain U.S. exports at levels set by its predecessor agreement NAFTA.

Sources: Politico, Pass USMCA Coalition