Washington (AP) – Democrats and Republicans in the US Congress have agreed on another huge corona stimulus package after months of dispute.
The heads of the Republicans and Democrats in the US Senate, Mitch McConnell and Chuck Schumer, announced the agreement on Sunday evening (local time) in the Chamber of Congress. McConnell said the package was worth around $ 900 billion.
According to Schumer, plans include further financial aid for small businesses and a temporary increase in unemployment benefits of $ 300 per week. Citizens with a certain maximum income should receive a one-time direct aid payment of 600 dollars per person. Money for schools, childcare and the distribution of vaccines in the country is also planned.
With the support of both parties, the US Congress had already launched stimulus packages worth around 2.7 trillion dollars since March. With the new package it will now be well over three trillion dollars – within a year.
Schumer said these were historical numbers in a historical crisis. The package that has now been agreed is the second largest stimulus package in the country’s history. “The agreement we have reached is far from perfect,” he said. Many Democrats would have hoped for even more. This package now brings emergency aid. “But much more needs to be done.” Many Americans would not only have lost loved ones in the pandemic, but also their jobs or their homes. Your suffering is great. “Help is on the way.”
The Democratic chairman of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, also warned that further help must come. The Democrats are happy to then negotiate this under the new Democratic President Joe Biden, who is due to be sworn in on January 20th. McConnell and Schumer both said the goal is to get the legislative plans passed in both chambers of congress as quickly as possible so that the aid gets through to the people.
Democrats and Republicans had been wrestling for another bailout package since the spring, but had not reached an agreement for months. Both sides accused each other on Sunday evening of blocking and delaying the negotiations. In the past few days, the talks had picked up speed to get aid in motion before the end of the year and before Parliament’s Christmas break.
The talks were linked to regular budget negotiations for the federal government. On Sunday evening, the House of Representatives passed transitional financing for one day in order to prevent the government from running out of money for a short period of time and from a “shutdown” – that is, a partial standstill in government business. The Senate should also vote on the short-term financing before the deadline set for this expires at midnight (local time). The vote on the budget law package and the new Corona aid package could then follow in Congress on Monday.
The United States has been hit particularly hard by the corona pandemic. More than 17 million people have been infected with the coronavirus so far. More than 317,000 people have died as a result of Covid disease.
The pandemic plunged the US into a serious economic crisis. Given the restrictions on public life and the closure of many businesses, the situation in the US labor market deteriorated dramatically. In total, around 20.6 million people recently received some form of unemployment benefit. A year ago it was only 1.8 million.
According to a study by two US universities from Chicago and Notre Dame published in mid-December, nearly eight million Americans slipped below the poverty line between June and November. One of the reasons the study authors cited was the expiry of certain state aid.
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