The U.S. House of Representatives voted 220 to 211 on Wednesday (10) to pass President Biden‘s $1.9 trillion (about $14.82 trillion) New Crown (CCP virus) Epidemic bailout package, which Biden will sign into effect on Friday (12). The bailout is the Biden Administration‘s top legislative priority, and its passage is seen as an important victory for Biden.
The Senate, after more than 25 hours of marathon negotiations, passed the bailout bill last Saturday (6) with 50 votes in favor to 49 against, a difference of only one vote, and because the proposal is slightly different from the one passed by the House at the end of last month, it was sent back to the House for consideration and finally passed on Wednesday. Biden later posted on social media sites that “aid is here, brighter days are ahead.”
The bailout gives each eligible national US$1,400 (about HK$10,900) and US$300 (about HK$2,340) a week in unemployment benefits until Sept. 6. The relief package will also help low-income families and the unemployed pay for rent and utilities, provide vouchers to the homeless and other assistance; it will also allocate US$14 billion (about HK$109.2 billion) to help speed up the distribution of the new pneumonia vaccine and vaccination, and US$25 billion (about HK$195 billion) to help restaurants and bars hit by the epidemic.
This is the third bailout since the outbreak of the epidemic in the United States, but the total spending on this bailout is close to one tenth of the entire U.S. economy, which once raised concerns about the outbreak of extremely dangerous hyperinflation.
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