CareerBuilder CEO Irina Novoselsky talks about additional relief from coronavirus, the US job market and small businesses.
President Biden and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will meet with some of the country’s top chief executives, including JPMorgan Chase’s Jamie Dimon and Walmart’s Doug McMillon on Tuesday to garner support for a package coronavirus relief of nearly $ 2 trillion.
Sonia Syngal, CEO of Gap, Marvin Ellison, CEO of Lowe and Tom Donohue, CEO of the Chamber of Commerce, will also attend the Oval Office meeting to discuss “the critical need for the American Rescue Plan to save our economy,” said the House White.
The meeting comes as Democrats in Congress move forward with the approval of the massive spending measure using a procedural tool known as budgetary reconciliation, which will allow them to approve the bill without any Republican buy-in.
WHAT’S IN THE $ 1.9T BIDEN STIMULATION PLAN?
Although Biden – who campaigned to unite the country and end party disputes – held for weeks that a bipartisan agreement was possible, Republicans criticized the size and scope of the White House proposal. Biden last week rejected a $ 600 billion counterproposal from a group of 10 moderate Republican lawmakers and asked Congress to speed up the approval of the $ 1.9 trillion bill.
“If I have to choose between getting help now for Americans who are suffering so much and getting stuck in a long negotiation or compromising a bill that is up to the crisis, that’s an easy choice,” said Biden on Friday. . “I will help the American people who are suffering now.”
According to a bill launched by the House’s Ways and Means Committee on Monday night, $ 1,400 stimulus checks would go to Americans who earn up to $ 75,000 a year, despite a last-minute boost by some centrist legislators to reduce the limit. But checks would be eliminated more quickly than previous rounds, eliminating individuals who earn more than $ 100,000 and couples who earn more than $ 200,000.
IDB MAKE BACKWARD BETWEEN SOME PROGRESSIVES OVER $ 1,400 STIMULUS CHECKS IN THE COVID RELIEF PROPOSAL
The proposal is also expected to increase supplemental unemployment benefits by $ 400 a week through August, allocate $ 160 billion for vaccine distribution and provide $ 350 billion in new funds for state and local government aid, along with a number of other provisions.
The Chamber’s Ways and Means Committee is set to debate its part in the huge reconciliation project on Wednesday and runs until Friday. Lawmakers hope to approve stimulus checks, part of a broader $ 1.9 trillion aid package, by March 14, when supplemental unemployment benefits are about to end for millions of Americans.
If Congress passes the emergency aid package, the United States will return to full employment next year, Yellen predicted Sunday, during an interview with CNN’s “State of the Union”. Otherwise, she said, the labor market will take years to reach pre-crisis levels.
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In total, the US recovered about half of the 22 million jobs lost during the first two months of the pandemic. There are still about 9.9 million more unemployed Americans than in February before the crisis started, according to Department of Labor data.
Although the labor market recovered rapidly in April, May and June since the early days of the pandemic, employment growth has slowed considerably since then, with economists increasingly warning that the recovery may stabilize – or reverse.
The Labor Department reported on Friday that employment increased by just 49,000 last month, a lackluster start for the new year, as COVID-19 and the restrictions put in place to curb its spread continued to weigh on companies.
The unemployment rate dropped to 6.3%.