WASHINGTON — The House prepared on Thursday to vote on a sweeping coronavirus relief package, pushing ahead with a measure to provide food security assistance, a substantial national paid sick leave program, free coronavirus testing and strengthened unemployment benefits for people affected by the spread of the pandemic and the resulting economic disruption.

But even as Democrats laid the groundwork for a vote on the Families First Coronavirus Response Act — which was hastily cobbled together and unveiled after 10 p.m. on Wednesday as the sense of urgency in the Capitol mounted — talks were still underway to try to bring the Trump administration on board.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi spoke three times by phone on Thursday morning with Steven Mnuchin, the treasury secretary, who is leading negotiations on the emergency aid measure, even as President …continued .
[Source: New York Times]