A bipartisan group of moderate senators has agreed to split the $908 billion bill in two.

The original plan, announced earlier this month, would have restarted federal unemployment assistance at $300 per week for 16 weeks, extended rental assistance, and funded the Paycheck Protection Program, a key Democratic priority, as well as state and local government It was supposed to do just that. However, the bill does not include the stimulus check2, which would bring the total cost to over $1 trillion and reduce the chances of Senate passage.

CNN reports that the $748 billion proposal, after the split, would include measures that both Democrats and Republicans could agree on, such as unemployment assistance and small business support.

The less-than-$160 billion proposal includes funding for state and local governments, which Democrats want and Republicans oppose, and liability protection for coronavirus-related lawsuits against large and small businesses, which Republicans want.

It is not yet clear how the bill will be received or how Senate and House leadership will proceed, but a larger proposal that includes unemployment assistance and small business support is expected to garner broad support.

Politico reports that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) has so far resisted spending levels proposed by Democrats, while taking a hard line on liability protection.

Democrats may follow suit.

"We need to get something substantive done," House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (R-Maryland) said on Sunday (December 13).

"There will be time to accomplish things that we couldn't include because we couldn't come to a political agreement.

However, a spokesman for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) indicated that assistance to state and local governments remains a top priority. Speaker Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) have previously resisted efforts to break up the comprehensive stimulus package into bite-size pieces.

Neither of the divestiture bills includes a second round of direct payments, but that does not mean they have not yet been considered at all. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Missouri) introduced a $300 billion stand-alone bill last week that would send $1,200 checks to Americans who qualified for direct payments under last spring's CARES Act.

Both liberal lawmakers and President Trump have expressed support for Hawley's proposal. This past Saturday (December 12), President Trump stated that he wanted "more money" for the stimulus checks.

Other bailouts that have surfaced in recent weeks include the $916 billion White House proposal with a one-time $600 stimulus check and the $550 billion McConnell proposal that lacks both direct payments and unemployment assistance.

If everyone's favorite bipartisan bill is indeed passed, and Democrats and Republicans drop their demands for liability protection and local government aid, it may be possible to fund the stimulus package again without the cost of everything exceeding well over $1 trillion. But that is a big "if."