As the Democratic-run House of Representatives approved its $3 trillion coronavirus relief bill on Friday night, analysts are saying it’s likely that President Donald Trump will end up signing a new aid package into law next month or later following extensive negotiations, MarketWatch.com reported. The House’s 1,815-page bill, dubbed the HEROES Act, calls for almost $1 trillion in additional aid for state and local governments, a second round of direct payments to American households and $200 billion for “hazard pay” for essential workers. The measure also incorporates a cannabis-banking bill, and it would roll back a cap on state and local tax (SALT) deductions and make changes to the federal government’s new Paycheck Protection Program for small businesses, such as eliminating a rule that requires that 75 percent of a PPP loan’s proceeds go toward payroll expenses. “We expect that negotiations over a finalized version of the Phase 4 bill will take at least until the end of May,” said Height Capital Markets analysts in a note. “We expect a final package to come together successfully but note that passage will likely be delayed into June.” Henrietta Treyz, director of economic policy at Veda Partners, said in a note that the next package is likely to have a final price tag of between $1 trillion and $1.5 trillion, and “it will now come in June at the earliest.” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has repeatedly stressed moving slowly on the next package and often criticized the House Democrats’ approach. But the White House probably would support another round of direct payments, according to a CNBC report on Thursday citing two Trump administration officials. The next package would follow last month’s $484 billion measure that has been described as a “Phase 3.5” response to the coronavirus crisis. It also comes after the $2.2 trillion CARES Act that passed in late March, a mid-March package costing an estimated $192 billion, and an $8 billion measure that was finalized in early March.
