The U.S. Senate adjourned Monday evening, dashing hopes for the renewal of federal pandemic relief before the election and undermining a holiday shopping season already riddled with uncertainty.
Lawmakers return to the Senate Nov. 9 without plans to tackle a new stimulus package, despite evidence that the first $3 trillion round of aid to consumers and businesses, including the CARES Act, fueled demand and staved off further economic fallout from the pandemic. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell in a speech this month called the packages from March and April “by far the largest and most innovative fiscal response to an economic crisis since the Great Depression.”