Stimulus Negotiations Are Stalling, and Americans Are Hurting Because of It
The COVID-19 pandemic has driven the U.S. into a recession and unemployment crisis like no other. Since April, the nation's official unemployment rate has consistently been in double-digit-percentage territory, and more than 100,000 small businesses have closed their doors permanently.
In late March, Democrats and Republicans in Washington came to an agreement on a massive, broad-based stimulus package -- the CARES Act, which poured $2.2 trillion into a host of measures aimed at keeping that recession from being even worse. Among them, it famously sent stimulus checks directly to most Americans, and added $600 a week to the checks of those receiving state unemployment payments. But those stimulus checks have long since been spent, the unemployment boost lapsed at the end of July, and the country's economy is still in bad shape, with more than 30 million people on the unemployment rolls.
Under these circumstances, it's clear that the U.S. needs another stimulus deal, and the longer it takes lawmakers to come to an agreement on what it should include, the more the public stands to suffer. Unfortunately, it seems like negotiations are largely going nowhere.
Source Fool.com
