Trump tweet seals accord on coronavirus relief package

President Donald Trump backed a coronavirus response package Friday that was hammered out by Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, all but ensuring that the measure will pass the House with strong bipartisan support Friday evening.

Trump's tweet, just before 9 p.m., ended a week of whiplash as Democrats and the White House appeared, at times, inches from a deal only to see it yanked away amid technical disputes and uncertainty from the president.

Trump's backing, though, was essential to ensure support from congressional Republicans for the sweeping, multi-billion dollar plan to provide paid leave for workers, expand food aid and support widespread testing for the illness at no cost to patients.

Democratic leaders plan to put the bill on the House floor late Friday evening under an expedited process and quickly send it over to the Senate, which is expected to take it up as early as Monday. It's the product of a painstaking effort by Pelosi to pass a bill with bipartisan support rather than a doomed Democrat-only bill that the Senate would have immediately spiked.

"[W]e thought it would be important to show the American people, assure the American people, that we are willing and able to work together to get a job done for them," Pelosi said. "So we thank our Republicans — those who will be supporting the bill. We appreciate the president joining us with his tweet."