WASHINGTON – The US economy will recover from its pre-pandemic size by mid-year without any emergency stimulus, projected the US Congressional Budget Office on Monday.
The report throws a wrench at President Biden’s push to approve a massive $ 1.9 trillion bailout plan ahead of a meeting with 10 Republican lawmakers at the White House on Monday night, after they submitted their own proposal more modest.
The non-partisan federal agency draws an optimistic outlook after a yearlong struggle against the coronavirus that killed 441,000 Americans, placed millions of unemployed people and closed large sectors of the American economy.
The office said the gross domestic product would return to pre-pandemic levels in mid-2021 and will continue to grow until 2026, as a vaccine reduces the number of new infections and the need for social distance.
“Labor market conditions continue to improve. As the economy expands, many people return to the civilian workforce that left it during the pandemic, restoring it to its pre-pandemic size in 2022, ”said the report.
“The unemployment rate gradually declines over the period, and the number of employed persons returns to its pre-pandemic level in 2024,” he continued.
The Biden government last month revealed a $ 1.9 trillion bailout package as its first major legislative effort, as the unemployment rate hovers around 6.7%.
The package includes $ 1,400 stimulus checks for eligible Americans, $ 20 billion for a national vaccine program and is supposed to cut child poverty in half.
But many conservatives and Democratic Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia, an important vote, argued against approving such a large package in the wake of a $ 900 billion Congressional-approved aid bill, arguing that it will increase the growing national debt. .
At a news conference on Monday, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki dismissed criticism of Biden’s package and said he was supported by other economic officials.
“A new report by the Brookings Institution estimates that, with the American bailout plan, we would increase GDP by 4 percent and return our economy to pre-COVID levels by the end of 2021,” said Psaki.
“A separate analysis by Moody’s Analytics found that the president’s plan would create 7.5 million jobs,” she said.