Currents News Staff
Congress may not be leaving the office as planned this August. While schools across the country are working on plans on how to reopen, the House of Representatives might be delaying or skipping its August recess.
There’s a push to have talks about another economic stimulus package to help the country cope with the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
“We have to have a bill,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. “We will have a bill, and I hope we will have it sooner rather than later, because people really need to have it.”
Pelosi says she’s willing to stay in Washington to get another relief bill to President Trump.
“This isn’t about government or philosophy or any political difference of opinion,” she said, “this about meeting the needs of the American people at the time of a pandemic that has lost about 40 million jobs.”
Lending a financial hand to the American workforce is something that has bi-partisan backing.
“We know we can’t shut the economy down again. That cannot happen,” said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. “We’ve learned there are consequences from being cooped up at home.”
McConnell says he wants the next stimulus package to include liability protections for businesses, restaurants and schools, with a price limit under one-trillion dollars. That’s a third of the proposal the House unveiled in May.
But, as always, it’s a question of whether Republicans and Democrats come to an agreement.
As the push for a proposal is in the early stages, Americans are attempting to cope.
“My business still hasn’t picked up,” Delena Sanders, who is currently unemployed, told Currents News.
“COVID seems to be getting worse and not better. So, at least here in the city of Atlanta, we seem to be going back to phase one,” she said.
“You know, am I going to go out and get something to eat, or am I going to buy medication, or am I going to save my funds to go to a doctor or put gas in my car?” These are decisions that people like Cara Steele are faced with as they face unemployment.