President Trump signs multi-billion dollar emergency coronavirus relief bill

BREAKING: President Trump signs multi-billion dollar emergency coronavirus relief bill into law to provide paid leave and free testing

  • Trump signed into law the multi-billion dollar bill on Wednesday evening, after it passed in the senate
  • The bill provides safety-net programs such as paid sick leave and provides free testing for the highly contagious coronavirus 
  • Earlier on Wednesday, Trump downplayed reports that Secretary Stephen Mnuchin claimed unemployment in the U.S. might hit 20 per cent
  • More than 7800 have tested positive to coronavirus, more than 120 have died
  • Coronavirus symptoms: what are they and should you see a doctor?

President Trump has signed into law a multi-billion dollar emergency coronavirus relief bill. 

The signing of the bipartisan bill came Wednesday evening, just hours after it passed in the Senate. 

The $105 billion bill provides safety-net programs for Americans affected by COVID-19, including paid sick and family leave. 

The legislation also provides free testing for highly-contagious virus, which has infected more than 7800 Americans. 

The Senate approved a $105 billion-plus coronavirus aid package and it goes to President Trump for his signature

The signing came after President Trump downplayed reports that Secretary Stephen Mnuchin told senators the previous day that unemployment in the U.S. might hit 20 per cent.

‘No, well I don’t agree with that. No, I don’t agree,’ he insisted during a White House press briefing on coronavirus Wednesday afternoon.

‘That’s an absolute, total, worst case scenario,’ he continued. ‘But no, we don’t look at that at all. We’re nowhere near it.’

In February, the unemployment rate was at 3.5 per cent and the highest in recorded U.S. history was during the Great Depression in the 1930s when rates reached nearly 25 per cent.

Markets tanked again on Wednesday with the Dow down almost 2,000 points.

The Democratic-controlled House of Representatives passed the package by an overwhelming bipartisan margin on Saturday. The exact cost has not been tallied, but the congressional Joint Committee on Taxation estimates that the sick leave and family leave provisions alone would cost $105 billion.

Lawmakers are simultaneously trying to craft another emergency package that could cost $1.3 trillion – far more than the mammoth recession-fighting packages that Congress passed in 2008 and 2009.

That package could include two rounds of direct payments to Americans, totaling $250 billion each, according to a Treasury Department proposal.

Trump suggested on Tuesday these checks could amount to up to $1,000 each. Payments would be tiered based on income and family size.

‘People want to go big,’ he said at his Wednesday press briefing.

The plan also would provide $300 billion for small businesses, $50 billion in loans for cash-strapped airlines and $150 billion for loan guarantees to other distressed economic sectors.

Senate Republicans could unveil their own version as soon as Wednesday evening, Republican Senator Richard Shelby said.

Mindful of lingering voter anger over the 2008 bank bailout, lawmakers said any industry-specific aid should come in the form of loans that must be paid back.

 

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk