Trump has continued to pressure Congress, through tweets, to boost the stimulus payments to individuals from the $600 in the bill to $2,000. The Democratic-controlled House quickly passed legislation to meet Trump’s demand, but the Republican-led Senate checked that effort.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell blocked the measure and said Wednesday that the proposal to boost payments to $2,000 has “no realistic path to quickly pass the Senate.”
Meanwhile, the government has begun sending out the smaller payments to millions of Americans. The $600 payment is going to individuals with incomes up to $75,000.
Some Americans should begin seeing the stimulus payments this week. The payments are being automatically distributed with no action required for people who qualify.
Analysts believe the $900 billion package as it now stands will give the economy a boost, but only as long there are no major problems with the rollout of COVID-19 vaccinations.
Earlier this month, the Trump administration said it planned to have 20 million doses of the vaccine distributed by the end of the year, but according to data provided by the Centers for Disease Control, just over 11.4 million doses have been distributed and only 2.1 million people have received their first dose.
Trump deflected criticism about the pace of the vaccine program, saying that it’s “up to the States to distribute the vaccines.”
Andrew Stettner, senior fellow at The Century Foundation and an expert on unemployment benefits, said, “With fears of a new, more contagious strain of the virus spreading, the labor market badly needs a swifter implementation of the vaccine program in order to safely re-open the economy in 2021.”
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January 02, 2021 at 02:04PM
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Jobless claims down 19,000, still 4 times pre-COVID level - Oklahoman.com
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