A Stimulus Check 2 seems to have a very slim possibility of manifestation before the President-Elect swears in. Although Congress has been urged to get the ball rolling, talks directed towards securing a new coronavirus relief package have failed to deliver results. The main question that stands now is, what do we expect after President Biden has sworn in? As it happens, while the President-Elect is completely in favor of Stimulus Check 2, the hopes of the Democrats in pushing this deal through would rest solely on the two Senate run-offs that are going to take place in Georgia.
Americans get $1,200 stimulus check in March’s CARES Act
According to the CARES Act, a Stimulus bill that was passed in March had a sum of $2.2 tn allotted for the pandemic crisis. Every qualifying American was given a sum of around $1200 that would help them cope up with the financial distresses of the pandemic. According to the Center on Poverty and Social Policy at the University of Columbia, the CARES act actually reduced the poverty rate by around 4% in the United States.
Pelosi, Mnuchin fail to agree on new stimulus check 2
The representatives of the Republican White House and the congressional leaders of the Democratic party, prior to the election, had been in major talks about the need for another direct payment. The sum decided upon was $1200, but this bipartisan package wasn’t something that found a middle ground amongst the Congress members. And since the Presidential Election, it remains to be seen how effective they turn out to be in the middle of a pandemic.
The debates have been going on for a long period of time, with Nancy Pelosi negotiating on behalf of the Democrats, and Steven Mnuchin on behalf of the Republicans. The Democrats, under Pelosi, had reduced their initial demand for the CARES Act to $2.2 tn, but the Republicans in the White House only raised their own proposal for the same from $1 tn to $1.9 tn. On Friday, Pelosi mentioned that in this period of interim government the main focus would be entirely on Stimulus Check 2, in order to maintain some balance in the economy of the country It remains to be seen how far they could be willing to go, in order to find a middle ground. Pelosi has urged all the Republicans in the Congress to get their gears up high to fight this pandemic.
Jerome Powell, the Federal Reserve Chair has mentioned that a stimulus check 2 is absolutely important- as coronavirus cases have started surging again in the country. The economy seems to be slipping into recession again, and the entire Congress has to work together to save the economy.