Less than two weeks after Congress passed the most expensive emergency bill in U.S. history, members are already proposing phase four legislation to continue expenditures in response to the coronavirus pandemic and subsequent economic crash. But what form this will take, and how soon Congress will be willing to act, will evoke a much stronger debate than the previous three phases.

On Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, along with Florida Senator Marco Rubio who chairs the Small Business Committee, released a plan to spend an additional $250 billion in the form of loans to small businesses. The loans, already adjusted for low interest, will be forgiven entirely if businesses keep employees on the payroll instead of laying them off. According to the latest numbers, there are over ten million newly unemployed Americans thanks to the recent coronavirus outbreak. 

These small business loans are in addition to the hundreds of billions already allocated for them in the CARES Act, a majority of which has not been allocated yet. Despite that fact, senators have been informed that the pool of resources is quickly dwindling due to massive demand. Bank of America has received more than 250,000 applications, while JP Morgan Chase has received more than 375,000. The action has been endorsed by Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin.

Senate Republicans want to pass the spending measure on Thursday through a voice vote, meaning that a single objection would doom the attempt. McConnell and Rubio devised the plan without alerting their senate Democratic counterparts but hope that optics will obligate Democrats to support the new loans without revision.

In a joint statement today, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi announced their support for the additional loans, but want their own demands added to the legislation. These include giving half of the $250 billion to community leaders instead of small business owners, another $100 billion in direct relief for hospitals, $150 billion more in aid to state and local governments, and a 15% increase to the maximum benefit for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Schumer has also been angling to include at least $25 billion for his “Heroes Fund” which would give hazard pay to essential workers on the frontlines of the pandemic.

McConnell was in no mood to expand the bill beyond the small business loans. “As the administration works to implement this historic legislation and push money out the door, Senate Republicans believe any potential further action will need to be tailored to the actual needs of our nation, not plucked off preexisting partisan wish lists,” he said Tuesday.

Congress will not return to Washington D.C. for a full session until April 20, making the possibility of passing a fourth phase aid package before May slim. Additionally, coronavirus may also lead to a postponement of congress.

Hunter DeRensis is the senior reporter for the National Interest. Follow him on Twitter @HunterDeRensis.