Negotiations over a $900 billion coronavirus relief bill are running into eleventh-hour snags, threatening to push Congress into a rare weekend session. 

Lawmakers had hoped to clinch a sweeping deal, which would also fund the government through Oct. 1, on Wednesday after the top four congressional leaders signaled that they were closing in on an agreement after months of stalemate.

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But instead lawmakers and staff warned that — while they still thought they would get the agreement — the final stages of the talks are moving slowly as they continue to haggle over the details and field requests for changes. 

“It’s still a ways off, I think. They’ve still got some things they’re negotiating. ... It’s been a slow roll so far,” said Sen. John Thune (S.D.), the No. 2 Republican in the upper chamber, after he left the Capitol following the Senate’s final votes of the day. 

Adding to the difficulty, the package being negotiated by leadership includes two separate parts: A roughly $900 billion deal on long-stalled coronavirus relief and a separate $1.4 trillion deal to fund the government. 

Because they are hitched together, leadership is unlikely to announce a deal on one part without also simultaneously announcing an agreement on the other. It also means Congress has to pass the sweeping legislation — or another continuing resolution (CR) — by the end of Friday in order to prevent a government shutdown.

And both are facing last-minute wrinkles that complicate the path for quickly announcing a mammoth, sweeping agreement that would wrap up Congress’s work for the year.  Read more at The Hill