On Thursday, lawmakers appeared close to reaching a bipartisan compromise to provide a fresh $10 billion to fight COVID-19, a deal that could receive final approval from Congress next week.

The price tag is a reduction from an earlier $15.6 billion compromise that fell apart weeks ago when House Democrats refused to cut pandemic aid to states to help cover the cost. As leaders hope to quickly pass the package through Congress, the lowered price tag appears to reflect both parties’ belief that it will be too difficult to find additional savings anytime soon.

read more: White House: Congress must act quickly to replenish coronavirus funding

The new funding will be used to buy vaccines, treatments and tests that the government says are running out, even as the more contagious omicron variant, BA.2, spreads rapidly in the U.S. and abroad.

The top Republican negotiator, Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah, said negotiators had reached an agreement in principle on the package, but said it was still being drafted. Other senators were less clear, but none questioned that a deal was imminent.

“We’ve reached an agreement in principle on all spending and all compensation,” Romney told reporters, Washington on behalf of Savings. “It’s completely balanced by offset.”

When asked about Romney’s assessment, Sen. Patty Murray, the chairman of the Senate Health Committee and another negotiator, Democrat, said: “I hope.”

Republicans are demanding that the measure be paid for by withdrawing pandemic funds approved in earlier relief measures but not yet used. Romney and others have said the bipartisan savings for the new bill do not include cuts to state aid blocked by House Democrats.

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Romney said the $10 billion could include $1 billion for vaccines, treatments and other support for countries overseas. Another bargainer, Sen. Roy Blunt, Republican of Missouri, said the number did not appear to be settled.

Earlier on Thursday, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said the measure’s price tag appeared to have dropped to $10 billion, while the Senate’s top Democrat also suggested its cost would come down.

“It’s still a work in progress, but as of late last night, it looks like it’s going to go from 15 to 10,” McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, told Punchbowl News.

A few minutes later, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer came to the Senate and made a similar point, but he didn’t mention any numbers.

“I implore my Republican colleagues to join us,” said DN.Y’s Schumer. “We have more than you want, but we have to accomplish something. We have to accomplish something.”

McConnell said Democrats were “unwilling to find another $5 billion out of the roughly $100 billion that has yet to be spent.” Democrats say the cuts Republicans are pushing are unreasonable, such as revisiting state aid cuts that have already been rejected.

Since the pandemic began, Congress has approved more than $5 trillion to address the economic and health crisis it has created. Only a fraction of that goes to public health programs such as vaccines.

McConnell said scaling back the bill could mean removing a third of overseas vaccines and treatments, “I think that’s very unfortunate.”