The US House of Representatives on Friday approved a $ 2.2 trillion package to help individuals and companies cope with the economic slowdown caused by the outbreak of the Corona virus, and President Donald Trump quickly signed it into law into effect.
And the package had won the unanimous approval of the Senate, the majority Republican, last Wednesday. The rare support from both parties in Congress to take action highlights how serious legislators are dealing with the global pandemic, as Americans struggle and the health-care system faces the risk of collapse.
"At the end of a three-hour debate in the Chamber of Deputies," Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House of Representatives, said, "Our country faces an unprecedented economic and health emergency due to the Corona virus pandemic, the most severe pandemic in more than 100 years ... Whatever we do next, we will ratify this." Legislation now. "
The move pumps billions of dollars to health service providers on the front lines of the virus.
The package includes $ 500 billion for the affected industries and $ 290 billion to finance payments of up to $ 3,000 for millions of families.
It also includes $ 350 billion in loans to small businesses, $ 250 billion in expansion of unemployment benefits, and $ 100 billion in hospitals and related health systems.
It is noteworthy that the United States exceeded yesterday, Thursday, both China and Italy, to become the country with the largest number of new cases of coronavirus. The number of American cases exceeded 100,000, while deaths exceeded 1,300.
To make matters worse, the Department of Labor announced that the number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits rose to 3.28 million, at its highest level ever.