Senator Charles Grassley (R) believes that Congress should be able to find some common ground, as they had yet to approve a pandemic relief deal and a government funding package Friday while federal government funding was set to expire last night.

Leaders on Capitol Hill were reportedly close to a deal on a $900 billion relief proposal that would accompany a $1.4 trillion spending bill. This would be the first aid package to be passed in nearly nine months, and Sen. Grassley said he was more confident about an appropriations bill being passed Friday than COVID-19 legislation, “Whether a COVID package comes along it’s pretty difficult because you hear different things changing from day to day, but I’ll tell you what I’d like to see happen. Since there’s so many people hurting and we need to do something, there’s so much that there’s bipartisan agreement on and just a few places where there’s not bipartisan agreement that we ought to pass what there’s a bipartisan agreement.”

Grassley says the areas that have bipartisan agreement include relief for K-12 education, the Paycheck Protection Program for small businesses, and increased funding for COVID-19 testing. The aid proposal is reportedly expected to reinstate a federal unemployment insurance supplement at $300 per week, and direct payments of $600 to Americans.