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Millions of Americans are (at least for the moment) without unemployment benefits. The blocking of income support payments for those who lost their jobs came after the previous agreement expired overnight, without US President Donald Trump (still in office) having decided to sign. the new $ 900 billion maximum financial aid package.
The stop to help
Aid to deal with the coronavirus pandemic was approved by the United States Congress with a bipartisan agreement after months of stagnation. The text is now taken for granted after Parliament’s approval, but Trump raised objections Tuesday and asked Congress to amend the law, especially by increasing the checks provided for most citizens from $ 600 to $ 2,000.An option that the Republicans oppose and the Democrats favor.
Uncertainties about the destination of the aid package
The bill, which Congress approved Monday, consists of more than 5,000 pages of rules and would keep unemployment benefits in effect through March 2021 and expand state benefits by $ 300 per week, in addition to extending a moratorium. on evictions and providing non-refundable assistance (up to € 600 in direct payments) to small businesses and many Americans. The current moratorium on evictions will expire on December 31, 2020.
The fate of the package, to date, remains a puzzle. Trump, currently on vacation in Florida, continues to call for an increase in the value of the checks and has complained about what he called wasteful in his opinion contained in the text.
The risk of closure due to government activities
The suspension of unemployment benefits is not the only consequence of the president’s refusal to sign the congressional text. Without the funding provided by the text of the law that Trump returned, there is a risk government shutdown on December 29. The point, in fact, is that the so-called pandemic financial aid package is part of a larger bill, including $ 1.4 trillion to fund government agencies and offices for the next nine months, through September. The text also contains funds for other expenses, such as money for cash-strapped public transportation and about $ 4 billion to help other countries provide the population with a Covid-19 vaccine.
Attempting to avoid closure and recover funds
However, to avoid a shutdown, Parliament could pass a temporary financing measure And that would not include coronavirus aid, which Trump has yet to sign. In a rare gathering on Christmas Eve, House Republicans quickly rejected Trump’s requirement to increase family allowances from $ 600 to $ 2,000 on Thursday, but that did not change the mogul’s position. It is speculated that Trump’s making a request that his own party in Parliament had opposed was a way of punishing his own Republican MPs, who he believes would not be doing enough to support him in the battle against the government. . The fraud that, according to him, took place in the November presidential elections, won by his Democratic rival, Joe Biden.
