Going against all the dogmas of the republican party for forty years, the American Senate voted Wednesday afternoon a law of historic scope to come to the aid of the Americans and to stop the recession which is announced. As the coronavirus epidemic spreads across the United States, the Senators voted 90 to 8 over a series of measures that are expected to come into effect as soon as the law is signed by the president.
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This law will make testing for the COVID-19 virus free, and will require employers to grant at least two weeks of sick leave to employees forced to stay at home because of the coronavirus, with at least two-thirds of their salary. It will also increase funding for Medicaid (health coverage for the most disadvantaged), expand the application of unemployment insurance, and increase budgets for food stamps, with the goal of providing a safety net as the epidemic is spreading all over the country and massive layoffs are to be expected.
Paid leave of up to twelve weeks may be granted to employees during the closure of their children's schools.
A $ 1000 billion program
The current epidemic has led the Republican majority in the Senate to reconsider all the principles that their party has defended since the “conservative revolution” of the 1980s. Hostile to state intervention in the economy, supporters of a minimum state , and apostles of the private sector and the free functioning of the market, the Republicans have just voted for the largest state aid plan since the Roosevelt New Deal in the 1930s.
And this is only the beginning. The Republican majority in the Senate and the White House are preparing a support program of more than one trillion dollars. Among the ideas discussed, the payment of twice $ 1,000, in March and April, to all Americans except the wealthiest. This measure alone, intended to inject liquidity into the economy and prevent a major economic crisis, could cost $ 500 billion.
The air transport sector, the hotel industry and the tourist industries could also receive billions of dollars and aid would also be granted to small and medium-sized enterprises.