financetom
Economy
financetom
/
Economy
/
Coronavirus: US enacts largest relief package in history
News World Market Environment Technology Personal Finance Politics Retail Business Economy Cryptocurrency Forex Stocks Market Commodities
Coronavirus: US enacts largest relief package in history
Mar 28, 2020 1:29 AM

US President Donald Trump has signed the largest economic stimulus package in history worth about $2 trillion to rescue the nation from the clutches of the coronavirus pandemic after Congress in a rare show of unity passed it.

The relief package was enacted on Friday as the US recorded 103,942 coronavirus cases during a week in which 3.3 million people officially registered as unemployed.

A total of 1,693 people have died in the US due to the disease.

The highlight of the package, which amounts to almost 10 percent of the US GDP, is an outright payment of $1,200 each to almost all adults in the country and $500 each to most children to help them tide over the crisis.

After months of confrontation and invectives capped by Trump's impeachment, the two parties came together to approve the recovery package by voice vote on Friday in the House of Representatives and unanimously in the Senate on Wednesday.

But the hostility lingered as Trump did not invite Democratic Party leaders who had worked hard to get it through Congress to the signing ceremony, even though he said: "I want to thank Republicans and Democrats for coming together, setting aside their differences, and putting America first."

Later at a news briefing, he said he expected another emergency relief package for the nation's economy crushed by closing of businesses as a preventive measure against the spread of the coronavirus and the rising medical costs.

The relief package includes aid for businesses, allocation for medical efforts against the coronavirus, food assistance, extended unemployment benefits and help for states and local governments.

It was passed by a voice vote in the House as many of the 435 representatives could not be present because they were stuck in their constituencies either due to self-quarantine or cancellation of flights.

During the Friday session, the House mirrored the coronavirus prevention measures across the nation: Representatives maintained social distances and disinfected microphones and some wore latex gloves.

The Senate had earlier passed the legislation for the package after more than a week of haggling between the White House and the Democrats.

Democrat House Speaker Nancy Pelosi thanked Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell, with whom she has been at odds on various issues, for cooperating on the relief package.

"We are all a family, and like many families, we have our differences, but we also know what is important to us."

The apolitical Commerce Secretary Steven Mnuchin negotiated the package with the Democrats because of the toxic relations Trump and Republican leaders had with the Democrats.

High drama preceded the passage of the relief package legislation, even as the nation beaten down economically by the movement restrictions waited for help.

Both parties could not risk creating an impression that they delayed or blocked the emergency aid

While the initial blockage came from Democrats, who wanted to ensure that the assistance given to corporations was not used to buoy their stock prices or for management bonuses, and wanted to increase benefits to workers, the final hurdle came unexpectedly from four Republican Senators opposing extension of unemployment benefits.

Forceful action by Trump and the party leadership made them back down.

In the House, a lone Republican representative, Thomas Massie, threatened to block the voting using procedural tactics. Trump came down hard on him, calling for his expulsion from the party.

In a tweet, Trump even agreed with Democratic Party leader John Kerry who had used an unprintable epithet to describe what he said was the representative's malaise of stupidity that needed quarantining.

Comments
Welcome to financetom comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
Related Articles >
JPMorgan has a new way to gauge its green progress
JPMorgan has a new way to gauge its green progress
Nov 15, 2023
As the largest energy banker, JPMorgan is a frequent target of criticism over Wall Street’s role in the climate crisis. At the same time, the bank is a leading US arranger of green bonds, making it vulnerable to Republicans seeking to protect the fossil fuel industry.
Zoomed Out | Critical Minerals — why India's current strategy to become self-reliant is so vital
Zoomed Out | Critical Minerals — why India's current strategy to become self-reliant is so vital
Nov 29, 2023
Internationally, there are genuine security concerns related to the criticality in building more diverse and dependable value chains for critical minerals, about their environmental and social sustainability, and technological challenges. While, India has taken the right steps for creating an ecosystem for accelerated exploration and production of critical and new age minerals, observes FICCI Mining Committee Co-Chair Pankaj Satija.
In fight to curb climate change, a grim report shows world is struggling to get on track
In fight to curb climate change, a grim report shows world is struggling to get on track
Nov 14, 2023
The State of Climate Action report released on Tuesday by the World Resources Institute, Climate Action Tracker, the Bezos Earth Fund and others looks at what's needed in several sectors of the global economy power, transportation, buildings, industry, finance and forestry to fit in a world that limits warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) over pre-industrial times, the goal the world adopted at Paris in 2015. The globe has already warmed about 1.2 degrees Celsius (2.2 degrees Fahrenheit) since the mid-19th century.
India looking into 'freak' incidents like damage to Sikkim's Chungthang dam: RK Singh
India looking into 'freak' incidents like damage to Sikkim's Chungthang dam: RK Singh
Oct 18, 2023
Stressing on the need to have quick ramp up and ramp down energy sources for grid balancing, the minister described hydroelectric power's role as essential in the path to energy transition as wind energy is intermittent and the sun doesn't shine 24×7.
Copyright 2023-2025 - www.financetom.com All Rights Reserved