“The main highlights are getting more business loans because small businesses, the hallmark of our economy, are struggling,” said Rep. Greg Murphy (R-North Carolina). “It gives them a lifeline, a lifeline for spring, which hopefully when people get vaccinated they will return to a better economy.”
Second stimulus checks: see how much money you can receive under the new stimulus account
Trump announced on Sunday night that he had signed the $ 900 billion COVID-19 stimulus package and the $ 1.4 trillion government spending bill, but he did so at the same time that he said Congress needed to make changes to the project.
Trump, whose own advisers were the architects of the bipartisan agreement, shocked everyone earlier in the week by threatening not to sign the bill. He called it “a disgrace” and called for the elimination of unnecessary spending, as well as an increase in stimulus checks for individual Americans – which his own representatives worked to decrease in the first place.
“Treasury Secretary (Steve) Mnuchin was there representing the White House,” said ABC News White House correspondent Jonathan Karl of the Capitol negotiations. “He was the one who recommended paying $ 600. The policy is totally confused here.”
The bill won the support of all three North Carolina Democratic congressmen – Rep. Alma Adams, Rep. GK Butterfield and Rep. David Price. Both Republican senators, Richard Burr and Thom Tillis, also voted “yes”.
Among the 10 North Carolina Republicans in the House of Representatives, Ted Budd and Dan Bishop were the only ones to vote against the package.
More about how NC lawmakers voted:
“I think there is a middle ground,” said Rep. Murphy, whose district includes Greenville and eastern North Carolina. “I really wish we could improve this to the extent that the affected people are the only ones who receive money. Unfortunately, many of the stimulus checks (under the CARES Act) went to buy televisions or luxury items when they should have been used for rent. It is a balancing act. “
July US census data showed that 62% of individuals who received checks used or planned to use most of the $ 1,200 in expenses. Figures from the US Census Household Pulse survey showed that most people used the money to buy food, household supplies and pay for utilities. Across the state, less than 10 percent of residents planned to spend money on electronics, games, sports equipment or donate to charities.
Figures from the US Census Household Pulse survey show that most people used the money to buy food, household supplies and pay for utilities. Across the state, less than 10 percent of residents planned to spend money on electronics, games, sports equipment or donate to charities.
In the face of economic difficulties and the spread of disease, lawmakers urged Trump on Sunday to sign the legislation immediately and then get Congress to do more. That is what Congress will have on its agenda when it returns on Monday.
“Ultimately, although imperfect, I supported both parts of the package … because Secretary Mnuchin asked us to support it,” wrote David Rouzer, a Republican Congressman who represents parts of Johnston County, on his website. “If he cheated on the president, I’ll probably never know. But I know that: we all took his word for it with the understanding that he was speaking on behalf of the president.”
Rick Klein, Political Director at ABC News, said Trump’s fruitless bargain has tangible consequences for the timely delivery of aid.
“This is not the time for interruptions,” he said. “It’s a holiday, the end of the month when people have bills to pay. Cities and states have people who do not work during the holidays. It is more difficult to start and stop these things ”.
“The date was really unfortunate,” Michele Evermore, senior policy analyst for the National Employment Law Project, a workers’ advocacy group, told AP. “Now there are some doubts about when this will be paid.” The Department of Labor is likely to interpret the law to allow payments for the week ending January 2, Evermore said. But if the bill had been signed on Saturday, payments could clearly have resumed this week.
And it will probably take two to three weeks for states to update their computer systems to resume aid programs and pay the extra $ 300, said Evermore, a process that could have started earlier after Congress passed the bill earlier. about a week.
Still, Klein says there is enough optimism on Capitol Hill that Congress has reached an agreement – and there may be the momentum needed for more success under the next Biden government.
“This bill started in the middle and this is rare today. This is a bipartisan group that said that this is the framework for getting things going and so the leadership got involved. This is the same means that Biden will take care of and hopes he can carry on. They will not be extreme in any part and people who want to solve problems in the Biden way and that is the centrist’s point of view. “
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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