U.S. lawmakers are racing to nail down a Covid relief bill after months of negotiating, as a Friday deadline to fund the government approaches and key aid measures are set to expire. Leaders from each side of the aisle met Tuesday afternoon and appeared to make progress. A final deal could include extended unemployment benefits, temporary student loan relief, a continued eviction moratorium and additional funding for small businesses. It's unclear whether a bill would send a second round of checks to Americans, but any combination of those efforts would help millions of people during a period of historic unemployment.
The U.S. is recording at least 212,200 new Covid-19 cases and at least 2,400 virus-related deaths each day, based on a seven-day average calculated by CNBC using Johns Hopkins University data.
Here are the biggest developments Wednesday:
- Fauci says U.S. could return to normal by mid-fall if most people are vaccinated
- Trump appointee pushed for herd immunity, emails show
- New York Gov. Cuomo warns a January economic shutdown is possible
- U.S. retail sales fell 1.1% in November, more than expected
- Developing $900 billion Covid aid deal would include direct payments
The following data was compiled by Johns Hopkins University:
- Global cases: More than 74.22 millionÂ
- Global deaths: At least 1.64 million
- U.S. cases: More than 16.97 million
- U.S. deaths: At least 307,501