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Senate leadership announced a bipartisan deal on an approximately $900 billion economic relief package yesterday that would deliver emergency aid to a faltering economy and a nation besieged by surging coronavirus cases, the Washington Post reported. After months of contentious negotiations and seemingly intractable partisan gridlock, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) took to the Senate floor to say that a deal had been finalized and could be quickly approved. The emerging stimulus package was expected to direct hundreds of billions of dollars in aid to jobless Americans, ailing businesses and other critical economic needs that have grown as the pandemic ravages the country and batters the economy. The House and Senate on Sunday night approved a one-day extension of government funding to allow the final bill text on the relief package to be written. President Trump signed the stopgap measure, preventing a government shutdown. The legislation includes stimulus checks for millions of Americans of up to $600 per person. The size of that benefit would be reduced for people who earned more than $75,000 in 2019 and disappear altogether for those who earned more than $99,000. The stimulus checks would provide $600 per adult and child, meaning a family of four would receive $2,400 up to a certain income. Congress would also extend federal unemployment benefits of up to $300 per week, which could start as early as Dec. 27. The income criteria for the stimulus checks is expected to reflect that of the first round of relief payments sent by the Treasury Department earlier this year. Read more.

In related news, a bipartisan legislative deal unveiled by U.S. lawmakers yesterday will grant U.S. airlines $15 billion in new payroll assistance that will allow them to return more than 32,000 furloughed workers to payrolls through March 31, Reuters reported. The support is part of $45 billion earmarked for the transportation sector in a $900 billion package for COVID-19 relief. Amtrak, the nation’s largest passenger railroad firm, is due to receive $1 billion while $14 billion will go to public transit systems and $10 billion to state highways, a senior Democratic aide said. The legislation is also expected to include significant changes to how the Federal Aviation Administration certifies new airplanes following two Boeing 737 MAX crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia that killed 346 people, three congressional aides said, but specific details were not immediately available. Read more.

Penobscot Valley Hospital in Lincoln, Maine, will exit chapter 11 protection in the next couple weeks after a federal bankruptcy judge approved a proposal to reduce its long-term debt, the hospital said Friday, the Bangor Daily News report. In a written statement, the hospital said that the proposal would allow it to “preserve” its business operations and jobs. CEO Crystal Landry has previously said the hospital does not plan to reduce services as part of its restructuring. In court filings, Landry said that the hospital would retain all of its assets as it restructured its debts and that it is “stronger, more prepared, and on a better financial footing than the day it filed its bankruptcy petition.” Penobscot Valley Hospital first sought bankruptcy protection two years ago, after accruing up to $10 million in debts to various creditors including the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Maine Department of Health and Human Services, Machias Savings Bank and the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Under the hospital’s restructuring plan, Maine DHHS and the Maine Revenue Service agreed to “significantly reduce” the $2.9 million Penobscot Valley Hospital owed to the state at the time it filed for bankruptcy, Landry wrote in a court filing.

Pamela Bennett, owner of a fitness studio in the Atlanta area, moved some of her Zumba and cycling classes to the parking lot months after coronavirus restrictions in March prevented indoor workouts in Georgia. She enlisted a DJ to play dance songs to get members in the workout mood during a Labor Day block party. But her efforts haven’t offset an 80 percent loss in revenue during the pandemic, the <em>Wall Street Journal</em> reported. The fitness industry has been hit hard during the pandemic because of restrictions on group exercise and clients’ concerns about returning to gyms, which have prompted people to seek streaming options and equipment for workouts at home. Several corporate fitness chains have filed for bankruptcy while many mom-and-pop boutiques have permanently closed. Smaller operators especially have faced acute financial challenges amid ever-changing restrictions, with some questioning whether their business models, including rent for bricks-and-mortar locations, remain feasible in a world changed by COVID-19.

Town Sports International Holdings, the operator of New York Sports Clubs, had its bankruptcy plan approved after settling objections from two states over its billing of members while its gyms were closed during the COVID-19 pandemic, Bloomberg News reported. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Sontchi approved the company’s chapter 11 plan on Friday in a court filing. His decision was delayed earlier this week by attorneys general from Massachusetts and the District of Columbia, who objected that club members had been unfairly charged dues when the gyms were shut. Town Sports operated Washington Sports Clubs, Boston Sports Clubs as well as the Lucille Roberts and Total Woman chains. A group of lenders that includes Tacit Capital agreed to exchange about $80 million in Town Sports debt for control of the gym chain. As for the dispute over dues, the order said Town Sports “will reasonably cooperate with the offices of the Massachusetts and Washington D.C. Attorneys General to resolve consumer complaints.” Gym chains have been hit hard by the COVID-19 outbreak amid on-again, off-again shutdowns ordered by governments, and the reluctance of members to come because of fears they’ll be infected. Among those that have filed for bankruptcy are 24 Hour Fitness Worldwide, Gold’s Gym International and, earlier this week, In-Shape Health Clubs. The Washington attorney general’s office claimed NYSC failed to abide by the promises it made to gym members while its facilities were closed and estimated the district is entitled to civil penalties and fees over $5 million. Massachusetts said it received over 2,000 complaints from consumers about billing and cancellation practices. Lawyers for the company and the states said at a hearing Thursday that they were close to settling the matter. The judge’s order establishes a process for gym members to email the company at TSIClaims@hcg.com to resolve billing issues.

The Tillary Hotel, which sits at the foot of the Manhattan Bridge in Brooklyn, became the latest victim of New York City’s ravaged hospitality industry, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The owner of the 12-story building that houses the hotel, as well as residential apartments, filed for chapter 11 protection on Friday after tourism and revenue vanished and it missed payments to lenders. In September, the operator of the historic Martinique hotel, one of Manhattan’s oldest, filed for chapter 11 hoping for relief from rent payments and union obligations as the COVID-19 pandemic hammers the city’s lodging market. The Tillary Hotel occupies six stories out of a 12-story building that also houses residential apartments. Only five of its 64 residential units are currently occupied, according to papers filed in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in White Plains, N.Y., by the hotel owner, 85 Flatbush RHO Mezz LLC.

Congress is barreling toward a rare weekend session as lawmakers race to wrap up a sweeping agreement to fund the government and provide badly needed coronavirus relief, The Hill reported. Leadership is homing in on a deal that would attach roughly $900 billion in coronavirus relief to a $1.4 trillion bill to fund the government until Oct. 1, 2021, in what is the last major piece of legislation Congress needs to pass before it wraps up its work for the year. But lawmakers appear poised to drive over Friday night’s funding cliff, when the government will shut down at least temporarily without new legislation. Even if talks wrap by Friday night, it’s expected to take days for Congress to pass it. “There’s still just a lot of loose ends we’re trying to tie down.... It’s a little bit of whack-a-mole, whack it here and something else pops up. There’s a lot of interaction between the moving parts of all this,” said Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.). Congress had been expected to depart for the year Friday, as lawmakers itch to get out of town for the holidays. But leadership is warning rank-and-file members to expect to be marooned in Washington through at least the weekend as talks drag on. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) warned senators to stay in town to vote on nominations, saying the chamber would be “productive.” Read more. 

A new potential roadblock to a $900 billion coronavirus economic relief bill emerged in the U.S. Congress yesterday as some Senate Republicans insisted on language ensuring that expiring Federal Reserve lending programs cannot be revived, Reuters reported. Both parties were scrambling yesterday to strike a deal on a new compromise aid package. They have set aside Democratic demands for a new funding stream for state and local governments and Republican demands that companies be shielded from coronavirus-related lawsuits. But Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) wants to ensure that the Fed and Treasury are stripped of the authority to restore pandemic lending facilities that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin will allow to expire on Dec. 31, including the Main Street program for mid-size businesses and facilities for municipal bond issuers and corporate credit and asset-backed securities. Read more. 

In related news, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) said that he will go to the floor today to ask for a vote on his proposal to provide a second round of $1,200 stimulus checks, The Hill reported. “Tomorrow I will go to the Senate floor to ask for an up or down vote on my bill to provide a direct payment of $1200 to working Americans, $2400 for couples, $500 for kids,” Hawley said in a tweet. He’s also teamed up with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) to try to get it passed by the end of the year as part of a sweeping agreement, which is still being negotiated, to fund the government and provide long-stalled coronavirus relief. Under the Senate rules any one senator can ask for a vote, but any one senator can object. Read more. 

Guitar Center Inc. has been cleared to exit bankruptcy with a plan to cut about $800 million in debt and provide the nation’s largest seller of musical instruments with an infusion of cash to navigate the pandemic and holiday shopping season, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Judge Kevin Huennekens of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Richmond, Va., said yesterday that he would confirm Guitar Center’s prepackaged chapter 11 plan, paving the retailer’s path to get in and out of bankruptcy in less than a month. Guitar Center, which entered chapter 11 with more than $1.3 billion in debt, anticipates emerging from bankruptcy as soon as next week, a company lawyer said. Guitar Center’s plan is backed by shareholder Ares Management LLC and co-investors Brigade Capital Management LP, one of the company’s largest bondholders, and the Carlyle Group. Together they agreed to inject $165 million in equity investment into the Westlake Village, Calif., retailer and will own the business after its emergence from bankruptcy.

With time running out on a loan program that had seen little use so far, U.S. small- and mid-sized businesses are tapping into the Federal Reserve’s Main Street Lending Program at a record pace, Reuters reported. Businesses drew nearly $2.7 billion in loans under the program in the week ended Dec. 16, Fed data released on Thursday showed. That was more than double the next highest weekly amount -- about $1 billion -- drawn the previous week and brings total Main Street loans outstanding to $10 billion. The program is one of several emergency credit facilities the Fed set up to cushion the economic blow from the COVID-19 pandemic, but that are being shut down at year’s end under orders from outgoing U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. Under the program, businesses can borrow between $100,000 and $35 million for five years, with the Fed buying 95 percent of the loan from the original lender, which keeps 5 percent. Main Street had seen little interest since its launch in the summer, hindered by complaints that its terms were too strict and minimum loan sizes too large. Also, some said bank safety and soundness inspectors were sending mixed signals to loan officers about the riskiness of the loans. The Fed made several adjustments that may have helped demand, but the uptick also comes as the economy is slowing again, with surging coronavirus cases weighing on consumer spending and forcing renewed business closures. The program took nearly five months to generate the first $5 billion in loans and just five weeks to produce the next $5 billion.

The former operator of New York Sports Clubs and Lucille Roberts is nearing approval of its chapter 11 plan of liquidation despite complaints from several state attorneys about alleged mistreatment of gym members, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Judge Christopher Sontchi of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del., said during a hearing yesterday that he wanted to confirm the liquidation plan of Town Sports International LLC in a way that preserves due process rights for the various attorneys general to pursue litigation over alleged consumer violations and misconduct. Under the proposed plan, Town Sports won’t be in business after selling nearly all of its assets last month in a deal valued at about $85 million to a group of lenders and an affiliate of investment banking firm Lepercq de Neuflize & Co. “We are a shell entity with limited proceeds to address administrative claims,” Mark McKane, a lawyer representing Town Sports, said during the hearing, held by phone and video. The judge directed Town Sports and representatives of the attorneys general of Washington, D.C., and Massachusetts to work together to agree on language to be included in the proposed confirmation order before he would give his official approval of the liquidation plan. If that cannot be done, the confirmation hearing would continue today. “This will be the last continuance,” Judge Sontchi said about the plan confirmation hearing that began on Monday. The delay arises from customers and multiple attorneys general claiming that Town Sports improperly billed membership fees to customers despite pandemic-related closures and charged dues to customers who submitted cancellation requests when their main gyms remained closed.