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Congress is mulling a new $55 billion aid package for restaurants and other industries battered by the coronavirus pandemic. Restaurants are slated to receive $42 billion which is intended to backfill the 2021 Restaurant Relief Fund. That aid ran out before 2/3 of restaurants that applied could receive cash, according to Roll Call.

CNN)Utah GOP Sen. Mitt Romney said Thursday that Republicans have struck an "agreement in principle" with Democrats on a $10 billion package to help US efforts to combat the Covid-19 pandemic, a breakthrough that could pave the way for new funds to help the United States' response efforts amid growing fears that critical resources are being depleted. Romney, the lead GOP negotiator, told reporters the plan is "entirely balanced by offsets." He said the bill text still needs to be drafted and there needs to be a cost estimate from the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office before the Senate can vote...

Welcome to Thursday's Overnight Health Care, where we’re following the latest moves on policy and news affecting your health. Subscribe here. Mark your calendars: The House is poised to vote on a marijuana legalization bill as soon as next week. With the support of Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), advocates hope this year it will advance through the Senate. There’s still no agreement on further funding the COVID-19 response in Congress, though Mitt Romney says he’s making some progress on a new compromise.

Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said on Tuesday that he is working with Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) and other Republicans to try to find a way to pay for new coronavirus relief funding after it was dropped from a massive government spending bill earlier this month. "We are trying to get COVID relief. I'm working with Senator Romney and other Republicans in good faith to find some pay fors that are acceptable to Democrats and Republicans in the House and the Senate. We hope to get it done," Schumer told reporters.

Joe Biden’s response to President Zelensky’s desperate cry for help is to give Ukraine more than $1 billion in military aid. Unfortunately, the only weapons Biden approves will cause more Ukrainians to die. It is difficult to believe an American president could screw up giving away more than $1 billion. But of course, Joe Biden is unlike any other American president. This is not the first time I have been amazed at this level of human incompetence. I was once forced to eat at a national fast-food restaurant in Alpine, Texas where the cook was incapable of making an edible...

President Biden is expected to announce more than $1 billion in Ukraine military aid from the $13.6 billion in aid that was passed by Congress, U.S. officials told The Wall Street Journal. The U.S. will be providing antiarmor and antiair systems to Ukraine with the $1.01 billion taken from the more than $13 billion package. The systems will include air defenses such as Javelins and Stingers that the U.S. says Ukraine needs, according to the Journal.

President Biden on Saturday directed Secretary of State Antony Blinken to provide $200 million in defense aid for Ukraine, including for military education and training. Biden directed the funding via a memorandum authorizing a drawdown. A drawdown is an order issued by the president to assist countries in an emergency without first seeking approval from a legislative authority or budgetary appropriations, according to a Department of Defense handbook. Saturday's memo notes Blinken can use the aid for military training and to provide general "assistance to Ukraine and to make the determinations required."

Congressional leaders announced Wednesday they had agreed on a $1.5 trillion spending measure that funds the government through the end of September — and includes $13.6 billion in aid for Ukraine. With Congress facing a deadline of 11:59 p.m. Friday to avert a government shutdown, a House vote was scheduled for later Wednesday on the 2,741-page measure. Separately, the House planned to vote on a stopgap measure that would keep funding at current levels through March 15. That would allow Congress extra time to approve the larger bill and send it to President Biden without any pause in funding.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke Saturday morning with a bipartisan group of US senators and House members via Zoom to plead for additional American help for his besieged country. “Zelensky thanked the US for assistance, and asked for additional security help,” a Senate source told The Post.

The U.S. will further bolster Ukraine's defense in the face of Russian invasion with an unprecedented third payment of $350 million, Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced Saturday. The defense aid will include anti-armor, small arms and various munitions, and body armor and related equipment, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said Saturday.

White House officials are reportedly preparing to ask Congress for tens of billions of dollars in additional COVID-19 aid. The funding plan hasn’t been finalized but is likely to focus on COVID therapeutics — such as an antiviral pill — and ramping up vaccine distribution, sources told the Washington Post on Friday.

The federal Election Assistance Commission has still not accounted for $74 million worth of election aid given to states in 2020 amid the coronavirus pandemic — and congressional Republicans suspect widespread abuse. “The EAC is supposed to be a watchdog,” Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) told Fox News. “But it turns out it has been a bad actor, spending large sums of money with little transparency.”

Kyle Shideler, the Director/Senior Analyst for Homeland Security & Counterterrorism at the Center for Security Policy, said it best: “They may have a 7th-century law code, but they grift with the best of the 21st century.” The Taliban does indeed appear to have caught on to one of the most lucrative gravy trains of the first part of the 21st century and are eager to get in on the loot; the jihad terror group has issued a call for aid from international organizations to help it fight the scourge of climate change. Apparently, the Taliban would have us believe...

The Taliban on Tuesday thanked the international community for pledging more than $1 billion in emergency aid to Afghanistan — and called on the US to donate more. Amir Khan Mutaqi, the foreign minister in Afghanistan’s new Taliban-run Cabinet, asked Washington to show appreciation for the militant group allowing the US to complete its massive evacuation effort. “America is a big country, they need to have a big heart,” he said at a press conference. Muttaqi’s comments came a day after the United Nations said that $1.2 billion in humanitarian assistance had been promised to Afghanistan, with some $64 million...

If you want to understand the horrifying return to power of the Taliban in Afghanistan, you could delve into the history of a mountain nation that repeatedly repels foreign invaders. Or you could consider the saga of nine Italian goats. These animals from Tuscany were airlifted into the country as part of a £4.4 million scheme planned by the Pentagon to help the Afghan cashmere industry and create thousands of jobs.

Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia indicated on Saturday he would not back including an extension of federal aid for gig workers and long-term unemployed Americans past Labor Day in a Democrat-only package. "I'm done with extensions," he told Insider. "The economy is coming back." Manchin went on: "Look guys, read your own print. Read your own print. The economy is stronger now, the job market is stronger. Nine million jobs we can't fill. We're coming back." The West Virginia senator's opposition would effectively kill the renewal of those federal aid programs, given all 50 Senate Democrats need to back...

On Wednesday, President Joe Biden’s State Department announced it is restarting $235 million in economic, development, and humanitarian assistance for the Palestinian people paused under President Donald Trump.Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the aid to the Palestinian people “includes $75 million in economic and development assistance in the West Bank and Gaza, $10 million for peacebuilding programs through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and $150 million in humanitarian assistance for the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).”Blinken said, “We are also resuming vital security assistance programs,” adding, “All assistance will be provided consistent with U.S. law.”The $235...

Congress may not have realized it, but they hit a stroke of genius when they included faith-based organizations in the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) this spring. Congress’ critics should reserve their criticism for other aspects of the nation’s Covid-19 response. The Paycheck Protection Program was designed to help companies and nonprofits retain their employees in the early days of the pandemic shutdown. And, brilliantly, Congress decided late in their deliberations to include faith-based organizations. Our executive search firm works with thousands of the nation’s faith-based organizations, so when PPP passed, we immediately set out to help our clients receive the...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The $900 billion economic relief package that emerged from Congress over the weekend will deliver vital aid to millions of households and businesses that have been struggling for months to survive. Yet with the economy still in the grip of a pandemic that has increasingly tightened curbs on business activity, more federal support will likely be needed soon. And it’s unclear whether or when the government might provide it.

Rank-and-file Democrats have increasingly become frustrated with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) brinksmanship-style negotiations with congressional Republicans and President Donald Trump. Politico reported that Pelosi has continued to pursue her hardline approach in negotiations with Republicans, demanding a coronavirus bill around $2.2 trillion. The report arises as many coronavirus programs created by the CARES Act have languished over Pelosi’s reluctance to compromise with Trump and congressional Republicans.