News: What’s in the new stimulus bill?

Monday, December 21, 2020

What’s in the new stimulus bill?

Congress finally agrees on a new stimulus bill; the UK's latest outbreak can be traced to a new Covid-19 strain.

Tonight's Sentences was written by Benjamin Rosenberg.

TOP NEWS

Congress agrees to pass a new stimulus bill, but will it be enough?

Brendan Smialowski/Getty Images

After months of lobbying and bickering, House and Senate leaders finally agreed on a new stimulus package late Sunday, a $900 billion Covid-19 relief bill that includes enhanced unemployment benefits and $600 cash payments to individuals. [CNN / Katie Lobosco and Tami Luhby]
The first stimulus package, the CARES Act, was signed by President Donald Trump in late March, just a couple of weeks after people began coming to terms with the reality of the pandemic. It took nearly nine months to get another one passed, and this one is not as far-reaching. [USA Today / Jessica Menton]
The cash payments, for instance, are just half of the $1,200 checks many Americans received in the spring. The new bill also includes an extra $300 per week for jobless workers and a total of $284 billion in loans to small businesses. [Politico / Caitlin Emma and Marianne Levine]
The $300 per week in unemployment benefits is set to last through March, and will go to Americans who are self-employed, freelance workers, and those forced out of work due to child care needs. The figure is half of the $600 provided by the CARES Act, which expired in July. [CNBC / Jennifer Liu]
House Democrats had previously proposed a $2.2 trillion spending bill, but Republicans countered at the much lower figure of $550 billion. Democrats signaled as the agreement came about that they plan to send out more relief later on. [Vox / Li Zhou]
Both houses are likely to pass the bill in the coming days, after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer announced the agreement on the Senate floor. But the new bill does not include aid to state and local governments, as Democrats had wanted. [Washington Post / Jeff Stein and Mike DeBonis]
The new bill does include $25 billion in emergency rental relief and a one-month moratorium on evictions. But that number is far below the $100 billion in rental relief Democrats pushed for in the $3 trillion HEROES Act, which passed the House in May but died in the Senate. [CNBC / Alicia Adamczyk]
The travel industry applauded Congress on coming to the agreement while noting that it was long overdue. The travel and tourism industries are among those that have been hit hard by the pandemic, losing 4.5 million jobs. [USA Today / David Oliver]
The package also includes a $1.4 trillion measure to fund the government and avoid a shutdown. McConnell said the Senate will remain at work until they vote on the bill by Monday night. [Bloomberg News]

New strain of Covid-19 behind an outbreak in the UK

A new strain of Covid-19, caused by a mutation in the SARS-CoV-2 virus, is behind a new outbreak of the disease in the United Kingdom. In response, several countries, including France, Germany, Canada, Iran, and Colombia, have suspended flights from the UK. [NBC News / Alexander Smith]
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the new variant is more contagious than other strains of the virus (though infections disease experts said this is not confirmed). The announcement caused nearly the entirety of Europe to close its borders to Britain, as did Hong Kong, a former British colony. [NYT / Dan Levin, Marc Santora, Aurelien Breeden, Tiffany May, Juliana Kim, and Raphael Minder]
The Covid-19 vaccines developed by Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna are still likely to be effective against the new strain, Vivek Murthy, US President-elect Joe Biden's nominee for surgeon general, said Sunday on NBC's Meet the Press. [AP / Marilynn Marchione]
Dr. Moncef Slaoui, chief science adviser to the Trump administration's Operation Warp Speed, made similar remarks. Both vaccines use mRNA technology, relying on genetic material to provoke an immune response in the body. [CNBC / Berkeley Lovelace Jr.]
Despite the alarming developments out of the UK, the World Health Organization said Monday that Covid-19 is mutating at a slower rate than the seasonal flu, which mutates so often that new vaccines are produced regularly to protect against different strains. [CNBC / Will Feuer]

MISCELLANEOUS

As health care workers and top government officials become the first Americans to receive the Covid-19 vaccine, people over 75 and essential workers should be next in line, per a CDC panel.

[NPR / Pien Huang]

Outgoing Attorney General Bill Barr rebuked President Trump on Monday in saying that he does not see a need for the Justice Department to appoint a special counsel to investigate claims about voter fraud in the 2020 election or President-elect Biden's son Hunter. [Washington Post / Matt Zapotosky]
A Russian agent revealed that Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny, who was poisoned in a high-profile case in August, received the poison through his underwear. The nerve agent Novichok had been planted there. [CNN / Tim Lister, Clarissa Ward, and Sebastian Shukla]
Residents of Hawaii's Big Island have been told to stay home after the Kilauea volcano erupted late Sunday night. [CNN / Madeline Holcombe]
About an hour after sunset Monday night, Jupiter and Saturn will be the closest together they have been in the nighttime sky in 800 years. [Vox / Anya van Wagtendonk]

VERBATIM

"More help is on the way. Moments ago, in consultation with our committees, the four leaders of the Senate and House finalized an agreement. It would be another major rescue package for the American people."

[Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on the new Covid-19 stimulus package / Washington Post]