Kelsey Snell
Kelsey Snell is a Congressional correspondent for NPR. She has covered Congress since 2010 for outlets including The Washington Post, Politico and National Journal. She has covered elections and Congress with a reporting specialty in budget, tax and economic policy. She has a graduate degree in journalism from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill. and an undergraduate degree in political science from DePaul University in Chicago.
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President Biden's far-reaching coronavirus relief package is a step closer to becoming law. After Senate passage Saturday, it goes back to the House this week for final approval.
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The change is a compromise between progressive members who wanted enhanced benefits for several more months and moderate Democrats who wanted to curb the weekly payments.
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The new changes come after leaders agreed to narrow the income eligibility for those getting the next round of stimulus checks, as some moderate Democrats wanted. GOP amendments are expected to fail.
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Moderate Democrats have demanded that the $1,400 stimulus checks be targeted at low- and moderate-income people. The change, if adopted, means the House will need to vote again on the package.
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On top of the small business loans and money for health care included in previous bills, the latest round of relief includes longtime Democratic priorities for lifting people out of poverty.
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Democrats are using the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill to introduce measures they say will reduce poverty. People already at risk for falling behind have seen big setbacks over the past year.
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The legislation is set for a vote on the House floor at the end of the week. The Senate is then expected to modify it to ensure it can pass procedural hurdles.
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Emotional stories, graphic videos and animated arguments echoed in the Senate chamber on Tuesday as the constitutionality of former President Trump's impeachment trial was debated.
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House Democrats cite fresh evidence of potential political interference by the Trump administration in the governmentwide response to the coronavirus pandemic.
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Congressional committees now move to the next stage of finalizing the details of President Biden's $1.9 trillion bill. Democrats are using a process that can pass the legislation on a party-line vote.