U.S. Senate poised to pass one coronavirus aid package while working on another

The U.S. Senate was poised to approve legislation on Wednesday that would provide billions of dollars to limit the damage from the coronavirus pandemic through free testing, paid sick leave and expanded safety net spending. As voting continued, the bill had gotten more than the 60 votes needed for passage. It has already been approved by the House of Representatives and will head next to President Donald Trump to sign into law.

The Democratic-controlled House of Representatives passed the package by an overwhelming bipartisan margin on Saturday. The exact cost has not been tallied, but the congressional Joint Committee on Taxation estimates that the sick leave and family leave provisions alone would cost $105 billion. Lawmakers are simultaneously trying to craft another emergency package that could cost $1.3 trillion - far more than the mammoth recession-fighting packages that Congress passed in 2008 and 2009.

That package could include two rounds of direct payments to Americans, totaling $250 billion each, according to a Treasury Department proposal seen by Reuters.