“We need more direct help for families and small businesses, including completing the task of delivering $ 2,000 in aid to people,” Biden said Friday in Wilmington, Delaware. He anticipated that he would present his proposals on Thursday, before taking office on January 20th.
U.S. President-elect Joe Biden has called for billions of dollars in additional immediate financial aid, including an increase in direct payments, following the publication of the worst monthly employment report since April.
“We need more direct help for families and small businesses, including completing the task of delivering $ 2,000 in aid to people,” Biden said Friday in Wilmington, Delaware. He anticipated that he would present his proposals on Thursday, before taking office on January 20th.
Biden’s comments come after a report was released that showed the U.S. job market lost jobs in December for the first time in eight months, reflecting a drop in restaurant jobs which revealed how the rise in coronavirus contagions is affecting parts of the economy.
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While Democrats will control both houses of Congress after Biden takes office, private economists predict that any new stimulus package will not reach several trillion dollars. The 50-50 split in the Senate will make a more ambitious proposal difficult to pass.
Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin, a West Virginia moderate, said Friday that if there is another round of direct payments to people, “it should be aimed at those who need it.” Initial reports strongly opposed raising stimulus checks to $ 2,000, from the $ 600 approved in the December 19 covid aid package, led to a sharp drop in stocks on Friday. , a sign of investor sensitivity to news about the upcoming tax initiative.
Shares fluctuate
The shares recovered after Bloomberg reported that Manchin planned to review Biden’s proposals.
Future majority leader in the Senate, Chuck Schumer, said this week that raising stimulus payments to $ 2,000 would be his first goal once Democrats gain control of the Senate.
(More information: Oil at highs: in 10 months returns to pre-coronavirus levels)
Non-farm payrolls fell 140,000 from the previous month, according to a report released Friday by the Department of Labor, although unlike last spring, the falls were concentrated in the leisure and hotel industries. instead of being widespread. The unemployment rate remained at 6.7%, ending a series of seven consecutive falls.
“People make miles of rows in their cars waiting for a lunch to put on their family’s table,” Biden told a news conference on Friday.
The president-elect also demanded a federal minimum wage of $ 15 an hour, another measure that is likely to come with a complicated political calculation.