The U.S. Is On The Verge of Passing Another COVID-19 Pandemic Relief Bill. Here ’s How It Stacks Up to Other Countries’ Economic Responses

In recent weeks, the daily U.S. COVID-19 case and death counts have been hitting all-time highs, while fresh lockdowns and restrictions have been enacted across the country in an attempt to contain the spread of the virus. In response to the economic pain brought on by those measures, Congress is expected to pass a $900 billion economic relief package on Dec. 21. The relief package is a slimmed down version of the CARES Act, passed in late March, which included enhanced unemployment benefits, direct stimulus checks, and funds for schools and health care facilities. The new package is expected to provide a $600 direct stimulus payment to qualifying Americans and a $300 weekly supplemental jobless benefit. It will also expand the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) for small businesses and provide relief for renters facing eviction. Before this most recent legislation, the government had authorized $2.3 trillion from the CARES Act and about $700 billion from various other economic aid packages for a total of just over $3 trillion dedicated to pandemic relief. Now, with the new measures, which arrived after months of congressional gridlock and last-minute negotiations, the government’s total fiscal response since the start of the pandemic stands at nearly $4 trillion. That’s a hard number to contextualize, but for comparison, it’s roughly equal to the entire combined annual economic output of Brazil, Australia and Mexico. It’s also comparable to the 2009 R...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized COVID-19 Source Type: news