Trump signed a financial aid package to Americans: what's in it

After several days of waiting and criticizing the law, US President Donald Trump nevertheless signed a $ 1,4 trillion budget bill and an accompanying $ 900 billion quarantine aid package. This happened on Sunday, December 27, in the evening. Writes about it Forbes.

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With this signing, the president prevented the shutdown and approved the payment of $ 600 in quarantine financial assistance and a weekly unemployment benefit of $ 300.

Senate and House of Representatives passed bills on December 21but Trump didn't sign them right away. He called the provisions in the budget bill "wasteful and unnecessary" and "Ridiculously low" financial aid payments to Americans.

Due to Trump's delay in signing the law, two federal unemployment programs expired on Saturday, December 26, meaning millions of Americans will lose their payments before the first week of January.

The new stimulus bill is similar to March's $ 2,2 trillion CARES bill - the largest economic aid bill in US history - and reiterates a number of key benefits of the bill.

In addition to direct payments of $ 600 and weekly extended unemployment benefits of $ 300, the new bill includes funding for health care and vaccine distribution.

The law will also extend the federal moratorium on evictions until the end of January 2021, but it does not include any new federal aid to state and local governments or liability protections for businesses - two key issues that have delayed negotiations by several months.

On the subject: 54 million Americans on the brink of starvation: where to go for help

"I will sign the bills with a compelling message that will make it clear to Congress that unnecessary articles should be deleted," Trump said. He criticized the draft federal budget for the 2021 fiscal year and insisted on increasing payments to Americans from $ 600 to $ 2 per person. "I will send an updated version back to Congress, point by point," Trump added.

Separate bill for $ 2000

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she plans to vote on a separate $ 28 check bill on December 2000, but it is ultimately expected to fail.

In a statement, Trump said the Republican-led Senate should work with the House of Representatives on the issue, saying on Monday "the Senate will begin a voting process that will increase checks to $ 2000 and begin an investigation into electoral fraud."

However, in his own statement, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (Republican from Kentucky) praised President Trump for signing the bill, but gave no hint that he would support larger payments.

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“The compromise bill is not perfect, but it will greatly benefit Americans across the country who need help now,” McConnell said.

Information

The federal government has passed five separate bills to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic. The first two, which provided funding for virus testing, small business loans, extended unemployment benefits, and tax credits for paid sick leave, were followed in March by the CARES Act, which created the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP ) and allowed direct payments of $ 1.

The CARES Act was followed by a $ 484 billion package that added PPP, which ran out of funding just a month later.

Trump's signature on the $ 900 billion aid bill marks the end of a months-long stalemate in Washington as lawmakers struggled to come to an agreement on how to provide more aid to Americans, and talks between leading Democrats led by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Chief Steven Mnuchin were unsuccessful.

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It was until a bipartisan group of lawmakers presented a $ 908 billion bill to allow negotiations to begin again. Democratic leaders were reluctant to support any package worth less than about $ 2 trillion, and the GOP leadership was reluctant to subscribe to anything worth more than $ 500 billion.

Criticism of Trump

Several lawmakers have called on President Trump to sign the bailout bill. Senator Bernie Sanders, who launched a public campaign with Senator Josh Hawley to raise direct payments to $ 2000 earlier this month, criticized the president's delay in signing as "incredibly brutal" and said he "did not hear a word" from the White House about his support. larger payments.

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