The US Congress has approved a $892-billion coronavirus aid package after months of inaction.

 

Following days of negotiation, both legislative chambers worked deep into the night to pass the bill - worth about $2.3 trillion including spending for the rest of the fiscal year - with the House of Representatives first approving it and the Senate following suit several hours later in a bipartisan 92-6 vote, said a Reuters report.

 

The virus relief bill includes $600 payments to most Americans as well as additional payments to the millions of people thrown out of work during the Covid-19 pandemic, just as a larger round of benefits is due to expire on Saturday.

 

The stimulus package, the first congressionally approved aid since April, comes as the pandemic is accelerating in the US, infecting more than 214,000 people every day and slowing the economic recovery. More than 317,000 Americans have died.

 

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, said she supported the virus relief bill even though it did not include the direct aid for state and local governments that Democrats had sought. She said they would try for it again after Democratic President-elect Joe Biden takes office on January 20.

 

Republican Representative Hal Rogers, who also supported the package, said “it reflects a fair compromise.”