- There is a lot of nonsense being spouted about the latest COVID relief package.
- People are trying to argue that the only thing average Americans get is the $600 check, but that is not true. The package includes an array of programs that will help people most in need.
- Boosted and extended unemployment benefits will help people who are out of work, funding for schools, transit and roads will help local governments, and there’s money for foods stamps and rental assistance — plus hundreds of billions for small businesses to keep paying workers.
- The biggest issue right now is that many benefits will lapse in the next few days, so the bill needs to be signed now. It is not time to reopen negotiations to get President Trump’s desired $2,000 checks in the package.
- On behalf of all Americans in need: just make the damn bill a law.
- This is an opinion column. The thoughts expressed are those of the author.
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I have had it with the nonsense that so many people are spouting about the much-needed COVID relief package that President Donald Trump is, at least implicitly, threatening not to sign into law.
Specifically, I have had it with the meme that the package is “just $600.”
Direct payment checks are a significant component of this package, just as they were a significant component of the CARES Act, but they’re not the main one. They make up only about one-sixth of the cost. And before you say “well that’s the part that goes to people,” stop, because you’re wrong. This bill is full of other programs that provide essential support to ordinary people, focusing on people who have faced particular hardship due to the COVID crisis.
The characterization of this package as “just $600” has obscured all the good the package can do if it becomes law, and all the harm that will come to particularly vulnerable people if it does not. Most importantly, if this bill doesn’t become law by Saturday, 14 million Americans will lose unemployment benefits they have been relying on. This isn’t a game.
What else does the package do? It provides hundreds of billions of dollars to small businesses on the condition that they keep employees on their payroll, through the Paycheck Protection Program. This is another area where critiques of our relief approach have been self-contradictory. We hear the US “isn’t doing” payroll support like other countries are — except we are doing it, that’s what PPP is — and then we hear complaints that PPP payments go to employers, even though that is an inherent characteristic of payroll support.
The package also contains $13 billion to increase SNAP (food stamps) benefits and $25 billion for rental assistance.
It contains financial support for various institutions so they can keep paying people and providing services. There’s $82 billion in education…
Read More: Stop lying about COVID relief bill, stimulus checks, and unemployment