After days of marathon negotiations and a tense shouting match on the Senate floor, lawmakers reached a deal with the Trump administration early Wednesday morning on a massive emergency bill aimed at propping up the U.S. economy and giving relief to workers hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic.
A vote on the bill, which has yet to be fully written, is expected later Wednesday. It would likely be the largest federal bailout package in U.S. history.
The legislation, which would cost approximately $2 trillion, includes hundreds of billions in loans for small businesses, many of which have been forced to close to fight the spread of the virus. It also provides direct cash payments to the majority of Americans who are struggling to make ends meet or who have lost jobs during the crisis.
According to HuffPost's Zach Carter, however, there is more than meets the eye with this historic bill. "Bailout money will flow to the shareholders of large corporations, otherwise known as rich people. The oversight terms that Democrats secured are purely cosmetic, replicating the toothless provisions of the 2008 bank bailout that enabled watchdogs to report abuse but not actually prevent or rectify it."
Read more below for why Carter believes the Senate's stimulus bill could moderately help workers and small businesses in the short run, but will ultimately further skew the economy in favor of corporations in the long run. | 
