A bipartisan group of lawmakers comes to an agreement on a 908 billion dollar Congressional COVID relief bill.
Senator Bill Cassidy signed on to the effort. He says it would help support unemployed workers and struggling businesses.
“300 dollars a week for ten weeks to the unemployed, and there is 288 billion dollars for another round of Payroll Protection Plan with specific provisions for restaurants and music venues,” said Cassidy.
Most of the 908 billion is repurposed from previous relief bills, and the total new spending in the package is at most 350 billion dollars.
The bill does not include another round of stimulus checks. Cassidy says that’s because it is not a stimulus, it is “what we can do to meet the needs of the American people.”
The package also includes 16 billion dollars for vaccine distribution and contact tracing, 35 billion dollars for healthcare worker relief, and 25 billion dollars in rental housing assistance relief for landlords.
Cassidy says the bill is not a long-term solution but if passed would hold the country over until vaccines are widely available.
“The purpose is to address immediate needs to get our country from December to March. An emergency relief bill, it is a compromise,” said Cassidy.
It’s unknown whether the bill has majority support in either chamber.
Comments