Your guide to the latest Hill developments, news narratives, and media headlines from Hogan Lovells Government Relations and Public Affairs practice.

In Washington:

• Top Senate Republicans indicated on Thursday that Congress is increasingly likely to need a brief stopgap government funding bill lasting several days to clinch a spending and coronavirus relief deal. Friday at midnight is the deadline to avoid a government shutdown. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) told reporters that a rare weekend session was “highly likely.” Sen. John Thune (S.D.), the No. 2 Senate Republican, told reporters, “I would hope it wouldn’t be more than 24-48 hours. I really think this is coming to a close.”
  • The bill reportedly includes direct payments in the range of $600-$700, $325 billion in small business relief, including $257 for the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans, a weekly $300 unemployment insurance increase through March.
  • Some of the additional items lawmakers are working out include how to structure housing assistance for low-income renters, the structure of broadband connectivity grants, nutritional programs, how to structure tax rebates, and the ongoing divide between the parties on state fiscal relief. There are also discussions on providing additional money for performing arts venues.

• President-elect Joe Biden plans to get the coronavirus vaccine publicly next week. Biden has said that he is “torn” because he doesn’t want to get ahead of the line but does demonstrate that the vaccine is safe to take. Vice President Mike Pence will get the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine at the White House on Friday. Pence said that having the vaccine administered on major networks to help increase vaccine confidence among Americans. Karen Pence, the Vice President’s wife and Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams will also receive the shot on that day.

• On Thursday, an expert panel at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) endorsed Moderna’s vaccine, moving it closer to emergency use authorization and giving Americans another vaccine to fight the coronavirus.

• Interior Secretary David Bernhardt tested positive for the coronavirus. An office spokesperson says he is currently asymptomatic and quarantining while the agency tests several other officials who have contacted Bernhardt.

• Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is quarantining after being exposed to COVID-19 from an unidentified person who tested positive. So far, Pompeo is testing negative for the virus.

• Weekly jobless claims rose for the second week in a row according to a report released Thursday, reaching a seasonally adjusted 885,000 in the second week of December, according to the Labor Department. The claims were up 23,000 higher than the previous week’s figures. Another 455,000 signed onto the special CARES Act Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) program, which expanded unemployment eligibility to gig economy workers and the self-employed. Combined, initial weekly regular claims and PUA claims have spiked by nearly 400,000 in the past month.

In the News:

• The U.S. hit a grim new daily record with 3,656 COVID-19 deaths and 276,403 new cases on Wednesday, according to real-time data from Johns Hopkins University. Wednesday marked the fourth day since the pandemic began that the U.S. surpassed 3,000 COVID-19 deaths in a day.

• French President Emmanuel Macron tested positive for the coronavirus on Thursday after exhibiting symptoms. He will isolate for the next seven days, although the palace says he will continue working.

• After studying 38 cases of COVID-19 in children from eight countries, researchers from the University of Manchester found rare cases of severe neurological impact and susceptibility to other infections. Thirty-two children recovered. Four of the children died from coinfections and two of the eight children were left with paralysis and not recovered by the time the study was published.

• In a poll of 150 current and recent CEOs of major companies, 72 percent of respondents said they were open to mandating that employees get the COVID-19 vaccine. The companies were surveyed at the Yale Chief Executive Leadership Institute’s virtual summit and included Walmart, Goldman Sachs, and UPS. Other companies said they would wait until after the first rounds of vaccinations go before they made a decision.

• A health-care worker in Alaska had a severe allergic reaction after receiving the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. This is the first allergic reaction case reported in the U.S.; two similar cases were reported in Britain. Unlike the British cases, the U.S. recipient did not have a history of severe allergic reactions.

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