The Senate and the White House have agreed on a $2 trillion relief bill for the coronavirus response. The bill includes checks to many Americans and increased unemployment benefits as well as relief for businesses.
The House, led by Nancy Pelosi, who obstructed this legislation will now need to pass it before it heads to the President’s desk to be signed into law.
According to Fox News:
White House and Senate leaders reached a historic deal shortly after midnight Wednesday on a massive $2 trillion coronavirus relief package for workers and businesses, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi offered something of a tepid endorsement of the agreement after previously pushing for her own legislation.
The bipartisan breakthrough in the Senate capped days of heated negotiations that had nearly been derailed by last-minute demands from House Democrats.
…Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said the bill amounts to “unemployment compensation on steroids,” and that Americans who have been laid off will have their missed salary remunerated. The package will enable companies to stay afloat and immediately bring back those employees when things are safe, Schumer said.
The unprecedented economic rescue package would give direct payments to most Americans, expand unemployment benefits and provide a $367 billion program for small businesses to keep making payroll while workers are forced to stay home.
Pelosi held up the bill as she tried to inject green new deal legislation into it. Even an author of the deal, AOC’s former Chief of Staff spoke out at the ridiculousness of Pelosi’s demands.
I helped write the #GreenNewDeal and I think this is ridiculous.
The tiny little emissions standard increase doesn’t even do anything meaningful to stave off climate change and gives the @GOP leverage to get rid of real help for working people.
Solve the problem at hand. https://t.co/KemaYkV7gn
— Saikat Chakrabarti (@saikatc) March 25, 2020
