What To Expect From The Next COVID Relief Package

Centrist lawmakers have announced a plan for a $908 billion COVID relief package but Democrats and Republicans still remain at odds on a second stimulus package. The proposed plan would help local and state governments, small businesses, and individual citizens.

State and local governments would receive a portion of the package to offset the decline in revenue. Small businesses would be granted $288 billion, a portion of which would go through the Paycheck Protection Program, which loans money to businesses to maintain staff during the economic downturn.

Those on unemployment would be paid an extra $300 per week for four months totaling about $180 billion.

Education would receive $82 million and vaccine development and distribution would be allocated $16 billion.

There are still no plans for the second round of stimulus checks.

The details of this plan aim to split the difference between the previous proposals put forward by each party. In early October House Democrats passed a $2.2 trillion HEROES Act which included a $1,200 stimulus check and an additional $600 in federal unemployment benefits. Negotiations were in the works with the White House, which had proposed a $1.8 trillion stimulus plan.

Despite all of these continued negotiations before the election, no real progress was made, and since the election negotiations have come to a screeching halt.

The latest bipartisan proposals seek to get the ball rolling again by giving each side some of what they want. Right now it’s unclear how much progress will be made on this plan, given the extreme opposition from the far left and far right. Recently, President-elect Joe Biden has made pleas to Congress to come to an agreement regarding coronavirus relief.

Meanwhile, many parts of the economy continue to struggle with approximately 778,000 people applying for unemployment in recent weeks with 20.5 million people already receiving some form of unemployment assistance.