The Senate on Saturday approved its version of a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package that includes $350 billion in long-sought assistance to state and local governments that’ve seen their budgets depleted by the pandemic. The bill, which passed after a marathon vote that began early Friday, is expected to be passed by the House on Tuesday before it goes to President Joe Biden.
The inclusion of state and local government aid was cheered broadly by organizations representing mayors, county leaders and other officials who spent much of 2020 pleading with Congress to rescue their agencies, which shed jobs and incurred massive expenses responding to the health crisis as tax revenues plummeted.
