The president of the United States, Donald Trump, has finally reversed this Sunday and has signed the economic aid agreement against the coronavirus, valued at 900,000 million dollars, days after millions of American households will stop receiving unemployment benefits after the end of the emergency plan sealed in March.
Earlier this week the still head of the White House had launched harsh criticism against an agreement that was finally reached by Republicans and Democrats in Congress after several months of disagreements, considering that financial aid was “ridiculously low” and that it was “wasting” on other issues to the detriment of Americans.
Along with the stimulus plan against COVID-19 valued at 900,000 million dollars (more than 735,000 million euros), Congress also approved an important financing project until September 2021 for the Administration of President-elect Joe Biden, which was questioned and criticized by Trump, considering that amounts “much larger than those given to Americans” were destined for certain missions abroad.
“I am asking Congress to amend this bill and raise the ridiculously low $ 600 to $ 2,000 or $ 4,000 for couples,” he wrote on Twitter. An idea that he insisted again this weekend, while some Republican voices began to question the president’s attitude.
“I think that when I leave office, I understand that you want to be remembered for advocating for higher checks, but the danger is that you will be remembered for the chaos, misery and erratic behavior,” said Pennsylvania Republican Senator Pat Toomey during an interview for the FOX network.
The text that Trump has finally ratified includes financial aid of up to $ 600 (490 euros) depending on the recipient’s income, and an unemployment bonus of up to $ 300 (245 euros) per week, as well as an item of 284,000 million euros. dollars (232,000 million euros) so that companies and businesses affected by the pandemic crisis can face rents and the payroll of their workers.
AGREEMENT AFTER SEVERAL MONTHS OF DISABILITIES
Negotiations had broken down on several occasions in recent months regarding various aspects of the agreement, such as the amount of individual unemployment checks, a point that will be debated again after the end of the year.
The text also includes an investment of 82,000 million dollars (about 67,000 million euros) for payments to universities and schools, in addition to another 25,000 million dollars (about 20,500 million euros) for rent and mortgage aid, and 69,000 million dollars (almost 56,500 million euros) for the purchase and distribution of vaccines against the coronavirus.
However, the text has also finally left out the two points that have caused the most controversy during the negotiations, such as the Republican demands to protect the private sector from possible lawsuits related to the pandemic crisis, as well as the request of many governments state and local governments to invest in their public health and education systems.
The leader of the Democratic minority in the Senate, Chuck Schumer, criticized at the beginning of last week the attitude shown by some Republicans, and assured that “this bill cannot and will not be the last word on the relief of Congress” to the crisis caused by the pandemic, as it is just “an emergency survival package.”
