New stimulus package with $1,200 checks unveiled by Democrats as negotiations resume
House Democrats have unveiled a coronavirus bill that would give most Americans another round of $1,200 stimulus payments and increase federal unemployment benefits.
The $2.2 trillion package, an updated version of the Heroes Act, was unveiled Monday evening before House Speaker Nancy Pelosi spoke with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, The Washington Post reported. They agreed to talk again Tuesday after negotiations stalled in recent months, according to the publication.
It’s the latest proposal as Democrats and Republicans struggle to agree on a follow-up stimulus package to the CARES Act that went into law in March and provided most Americans with $1,200 payments during the coronavirus pandemic.
House Democrats passed a $3 trillion coronavirus aid bill called the Heroes Act, on May 15, but it never received a vote in the Senate.
Meanwhile, Senate Republicans introduced a $1 trillion second stimulus package, called the Health, Economic Assistance, Liability Protection and Schools (HEALS) Act, in August.
After negotiations hit an impasse, Trump signed four executive orders Aug. 8, including one that seeks to provide up to $300 in weekly unemployment benefits.
Pelosi, a California Democrat, said she hopes to strike a deal with Republicans with the new plan.
“Democrats are making good on our promise to compromise with this updated bill, which is necessary to address the immediate health and economic crisis facing America’s working families right now,” she said in a news release Thursday.
The bill needs bipartisan support to pass, and Mnuchin said earlier this month that the White House could agree to an aid package costing as much as $1.5 trillion, The New York Times reported.
“Whether it is $1 trillion or $1.5 trillion, again, let’s not get caught on a number,” Mr. Mnuchin told the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis. “Let’s move forward on a bipartisan basis now. I do not think the right outcome is zero. Nobody does.”
The new package includes reviving the $600 federal unemployment benefits from the CARES Act that expired at the end of July. Here are some of the provisions of the plan:
$1,200 direct payments, plus $500 for all dependents, including adults and students under age 24
$225 billion to help schools and $57 billion for child care
$436 billion for state and local government aid
Reinstate the Payroll Protection Plan to help small businesses
$50 billion for emergency rental assistance
$75 billion for COVID-19 testing and contact tracing
$15 billion for the U.S. Postal Service
$120 billion to help the restaurant industry
