The news on Wednesday morning that the White House and Senate leaders reached a pact on a massive relief bill was good news and will hopefully set the stage for a brighter future for the entire nation.

The size of the emergency relief bill — $2 trillion — is historic. Yet, we are now mired in an unprecedented crisis, and extraordinary challenges call for unparalleled responses.

The fact that leaders from both sides of the aisle managed to put aside the usual partisan bickering to reach the deal is also encouraging. That wasn’t the case earlier in the week when Democrats sidelined the emergency relief package, but the fact lawmakers could get past that initial hurdle and find common ground is good news.

The money, of course, will help the nation bounce back from the COVID-19 virus outbreak and is needed immediately. Just in Oregon, the impact on COVID-19 response — on small businesses closed and our daily life — will resonate for a long time.

Millions of people are out of work or about to be out of work, commerce is beginning to stall, and the gigantic American economic machine is sputtering to a halt.

That is why the relief bill is so important for so many right now. The sad fact is that in many places the COVID-19 virus outbreak is still in its early stages, which means the worse may still be to come.

For a long, long time Congress has, on the most controversial issues at least, seemed like a failed exercise in the grand democratic experiment fashioned by our forefathers. Bickering, finger-pointing and wide, sweeping proclamations — and little action — often proved to be the hallmark of Congress.

With the relief package, though, the American people saw what a group of unified lawmakers can do and how much their dedication can make a difference for the average American.

The most unfortunate element to the relief package is not its size, but that the unity of action by our elected leaders was only possible after a national crisis — on par with World War II — slammed our nation.

We are going to get through this crisis, the entire nation, but in the future when lawmakers begin to draw battle lines over issues, perhaps they should remember the unity of purpose they generated against the COVID-19 virus outbreak.