The U.S. Congress still hasn’t come to an agreement on a new coronavirus relief package. The Wall Street Journal reports that state and local funding remains a sticking point in negotiations.

In May, the U.S. House passed a $3 trillion bill, which would give states $500 billion and local governments $375 billion that could be used to address revenue shortfalls. (This would be on top of the less flexible $150 billion already appropriated as the Coronavirus Relief Fund, or CRF.)

At the end of July, a bill was proposed in the U.S. Senate that would not appropriate additional funds but would allow states and local governments to use their existing CRF dollars to cover revenue shortfalls.

And yesterday Sen. McConnell introduced a new relief bill, as an amendment to S. 178. It would not appropriate more funding for state and local governments, nor would it make existing funding more flexible. But it would extend the timeframe for use of the CRF to Sept. 30, 2021. (Expenditures must currently take place by Dec. 30, 2020).

If Congress acts to increase CRF appropriations or make current appropriations more flexible, it would help the Legislature address Washington’s budget shortfall. (The state of Washington has $1.111 billion left of its CRF share.)