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In January 2018, Senate Democrats took a politically risky stand, shutting down the government to insist on protections for hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants. Gleeful Republicans saw the obstruction strategy as a huge blunder and pounded the Democrats, who caved after only a few days of sharp attacks and cut a deal to reopen. Times — and circumstances — have changed. Democrats have now blocked two consecutive coronavirus rescue packages pushed by Republicans and withstood withering criticism to win concessions — and hundreds of billions of dollars — they said were vital, including in the bill that passed the Senate on Tuesday and is slated to clear the House on Thursday. (Hulse, 4/23)

The House is reassembling to send President Donald Trump a fourth bipartisan bill to help businesses crippled by the coronavirus, an almost $500 billion measure that many lawmakers are already looking beyond. Anchoring the latest bill is a request by the administration to replenish a fund to help small- and medium-size businesses with payroll, rent and other expenses. (Taylor, 4/23)

Top Republican leaders said Wednesday they want Congress to return to business as usual amid the coronavirus pandemic — in effect bringing hundreds of lawmakers, aides and support staff back to Capitol Hill despite the warnings of public health officials that reopening parts of the country too soon could cause a spike in the deadly disease. The calls from prominent members of both the House and Senate echo rhetoric from conservative activists and some GOP governors who have advocated loosening social distancing guidelines after weeks of lockdowns and the disease’s devastating toll on the economy. (DeBonis and Kane, 4/22)

Speaker Nancy Pelosi is backing off a plan to muscle through a major rules change to the way House lawmakers vote during the coronavirus pandemic, and has announced a bipartisan task force to further study the issue before taking any action. Pelosi announced the sudden change of plans during a call with her leadership team Wednesday morning, saying she would no longer push to change House rules this week to allow members to vote by proxy after vocal Republican opposition. (Caygle, Bresnahan and Ferris, 4/22)

The more than $300 billion set aside to replenish the emergency loan program for small businesses impacted by the coronavirus pandemic is likely already all spoken for, banking industry groups said Wednesday. The initial $349 billion set aside for the Paycheck Protection Program ran out on April 16, after being available for less than two weeks. The Senate has approved an additional $310 billion for the program, which the House of Representatives is expected to vote in favor of later this week. (Sweet and Rosenberg, 4/22)

Combined, the two tranches of money totaling $670 billion (including administrative costs) are designed to provide paychecks for the roughly 60 million workers in the small-business sector for about two months, a Treasury Department spokesman said. Small businesses are generally defined as companies with 500 or fewer employees, but special exemptions were made for certain sectors, including restaurants and hotel chains, triggering controversy. (Omeokwe, 4/23)

The federal government’s $349 billion aid program for small businesses devastated by the coronavirus pandemic was advertised as first-come, first-served. As many business owners found out, it was anything but. That’s because some of the nation’s biggest banks, including JPMorgan Chase, Citibank and U.S. Bank, prioritized the applications of their wealthiest clients before turning to other loan seekers, according to half a dozen bank employees and financial industry executives who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the banks’ operations. (Flitter and Cowley, 4/22)

Ryan Wittmann was wrapping up his first full week of working from home when he noticed an instant message from his boss: “I think I’ve got a project for you.” It was Friday, March 27, in Lincoln, Neb., and Wittmann and hundreds of his colleagues were getting the hang of running Union Bank & Trust from their makeshift home offices. Wittmann was working at a card table in his basement. Others had commandeered space in their kitchens and laundry rooms. (Whalen and Merle, 4/22)

Harvard University announced Wednesday that it would not accept $8.6 million in taxpayer money that the university was set to receive as part of an emergency relief package for higher education, whose losses have been mounting during the coronavirus pandemic. The school’s decision came a day after President Trump criticized Harvard for receiving federal relief funds despite its large endowment, valued at $41 billion before the pandemic. “Harvard’s going to pay back the money,” he declared. (Hartocollis, 4/22)

The first week after Cristina McCarter closed her Memphis food tour company, a casualty of the pandemic, she had only tears. “It was a lot of emotions,” she said. “It was like going back to when I first started and everyone said I was crazy to give up my job to be an entrepreneur. I was like, this is what my granddaddy was talking about.” But then, she had an idea. As Ms. McCarter saw restaurants in town reopen to serve takeout, she realized she could take her business, City Tasting Tours, virtual. (Haimerl, 4/23)

Democrats are struggling to monitor the Trump administration's handling of coronavirus relief funding at a time when Congress is poised to provide an additional $500 billion in emergency aid and watchdogs warn of massive fraud and abuse. While party leaders have demanded strict accounting of the trillions of dollars Congress has approved to address the pandemic, they’ve faced hurdles setting up oversight mechanisms, even as the massive outlays start flowing out the door. (Wong and Lillis, 4/22)

President Trump said Wednesday that the U.S. “had no choice” but to pour trillions of dollars into fighting the coronavirus and its steep economic toll as Republican lawmakers raise concerns about its impact on the national debt. Trump said during a White House briefing Wednesday night that while he was worried about the climbing national debt, the unprecedented nature of the COVID-19 pandemic required a response of similar magnitude from Washington, D.C. (Lane, 4/22)

And McConnell says states who need more funding should consider other options beyond federal aid —

Senator Mitch McConnell took a hard line on Wednesday against giving cash-short states more federal aid in future emergency pandemic relief legislation, saying that those suffering steep shortfalls amid the coronavirus crisis should instead consider bankruptcy. “I think this whole business of additional assistance for state and local governments needs to be thoroughly evaluated,” Mr. McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the majority leader, said in an interview with the conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt. “There’s not going to be any desire on the Republican side to bail out state pensions by borrowing money from future generations.” (Hulse, 4/22)

On a syndicated talk radio show, Mr. McConnell, a Republican from Kentucky, floated the idea of opening bankruptcy as a potential option for states that have struggled with pension debt even before the public health crisis caused by the new coronavirus. The pandemic has battered local economies, causing steep declines in sales taxes, transit fees and other sources of municipal revenue. Bankruptcy protection “saves some cities, and there’s no good reason for it not to be available” to states, Mr. McConnell said. (Ferek and Gillers, 4/22)

State governments are staring at budget shortfalls that will substantially exceed what they faced during the great recession, even before the full scope of the economic damage caused by the coronavirus pandemic is known. Budget analysts, governors and legislative leaders around the country are already holding regular meetings to assess the damage, watching in real time as their revenue estimates fall short of worst-case scenarios mapped for a recession. (Wilson, 4/22)