Senate Dems strike jobless aid deal, relief bill OK in sight
Associated PressWASHINGTON — Senate leaders and moderate Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin struck a deal late Friday over emergency jobless benefits, breaking a logjam that had stalled the party’s showpiece $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill. The House approved a relief bill last weekend that included $400 weekly jobless benefits — on top of regular state payments — through August. As the day began, Democrats asserted they’d reached a compromise between party moderates and progressives extending emergency jobless benefits at $300 weekly into early October. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell chided Democrats, calling their daylong effort to work out the unemployment amendment a “spectacle.” “What this proves is there are benefits to bipartisanship when you’re dealing with an issue of this magnitude,” McConnell said.