Just after Donald Trump finally declared a national emergency, Nancy Pelosi and the White House have agreed on a coronavirus relief bill.
CNBC:
“We are proud to have reached an agreement with the Administration to resolve outstanding challenges, and now will soon pass the Families First Coronavirus Response Act,” she wrote to Democrats after hours of back-and-forth with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.
The House will look to pass the legislation Friday, however, since the Federal Government has proven to be more reactionary during the COVID-19 pandemic, the bill won’t be expected to be passed until early next week since the Senate decided this was the best time to head out of Washington D.C. early for a long weekend.
Anyways, Pelosi said the bill will aim to offer economic relief caused by the global pandemic. This relief includes:
- Free coronavirus testing for all who need it, including those without insurance
- Up to two weeks of paid sick leave and up to three months of paid family and medical leave
- Stronger unemployment insurance for furloughed workers
- Buttressing SNAP and other food programs for school children and seniors
- More money for Medicaid, the joint federal and state insurance program for low-income Americans
Again, this is something that should have been done several weeks ago. However, this bill still fails to address the ongoing problems American’s face outside of pandemics which in turn has further highlighted the downfalls of capitalism.
