Michael R. Strain, Columnist

Will a Handful of Senators Hold Up Help for Millions?

The compromise stimulus bill isn’t perfect, but Republicans on their hobbyhorses aren’t going to make it better.

December 18, 2020 at 9:55 PM UTC

Michael R. Strain is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. He is director of economic policy studies and Arthur F. Burns Scholar in Political Economy at the American Enterprise Institute. He is the author of “The American Dream Is Not Dead: (But Populism Could Kill It).”

On the rise and in the way.
Photographer: Greg Nash/AFP/Getty Images

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Congress is on the brink of passing another Covid-19 stimulus package and a funding measure to keep the government from shutting down. But last-minute demands by some senators are casting doubt on whether Congress can get a bill across the finish line.

The U.S. government runs out of funding at midnight. Unless Congress can pass a stopgap measure before then, the government will (technically) shut down. At the same time, Congress is trying to pass a bipartisan stimulus of around $900 billion.