On Sept. 10, 2020, the Senate voted down Senate Republican leadership’s “skinny” COVID-19 relief package, the Delivering Immediate Relief to America's Families, Schools and Small Businesses Act, by a vote of 52 – 47, short of the needed 60 votes to advance the bill. The bill included a federal unemployment insurance extension, education and postal service funding, and limited health provisions including $16 billion for COVID-19 testing and contact tracing, support for the federal Strategic National Stockpile and state stockpiles, liability protections for health providers and about $20 billion for COVID-19 vaccine development and distribution. The bill did not include any funding for the NIH, research infrastructure or for health care providers. 

 It seems unlikely that Congress will be able to agree on another COVID-19 relief bill before the chambers go into recess for the election by the end of September.