Author: Nicholas Wu and Ledyard King, USA TODAY

The $900 billion deal broke an eight-month impasse in which talks took place in fits and starts only to give way to more gridlock.

Republicans and Democrats fought for months over the type of relief needed to weather a pandemic that has killed more than 317,000 in the USA.

Democrats released the text messages after Kurt Volker, who resigned from the Ukraine envoy post last week, testified Thursday.