Senate Republicans preparing $500B virus relief proposal

WASHINGTON (AP) – A Republican senator says Senate GOP leaders are preparing a slimmed-down virus relief package of roughly $500 billion.

Missouri Sen. Roy Blunt says it will include extended payments for unemployed people and for suffering smaller businesses and money for work aimed at combating the coronavirus. A GOP aide says the measure also includes $10 billion for the Postal Service.

That agency has become a campaign-season battlefield over whether it will have enough resources to handle an expected flood of mail-in ballots for this November’s presidential and congressional elections.

President Donald Trump has repeatedly asserted without evidence that mail-in voting is prone to rampant fraud.