Amid increasingly peremptory warning signs of an economy in decline due to the rebound in the coronavirus pandemic, a group of Republican and Democratic senators announced on Tuesday
a new 908,000 million economic stimulus plan
that could end the political blockade of the last months on these helps to workers and families.
The plan, however, does not currently have the support of the president, Donald Trump, nor of the Democratic and Republican leaders in Congress.
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The proposal, which
includes more unemployment benefits
, has yet to get approval from the Republican Senate and the Democratic House of Representatives, it is designed to include elements that satisfy both parties.
However, it does not include some popular provisions, such as another round of direct payments to families,
and has an extension until March 31.
[The $ 1,200 aid check is increasingly needed but Congress seems to be throwing in the towel]
Several moderate legislators in the Senate, including Democrats Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Mark Warner of Virginia, and Republicans Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Mitt Romney of Utah and Susan Collins of Maine, presented their proposal to the press on Tuesday.
As reported by The Washington Post, the plan includes, among others:
$ 300 a week in federal unemployment benefits
for four months, less than the $ 600 a week Democrats were seeking
$ 160 billion for state and local governments, a key Democratic priority opposed by most Republicans
A temporary lockdown on some coronavirus-related lawsuits against businesses and other entities, a key Republican priority opposed by most Democrats.
Financing for small businesses, schools, healthcare, transit authorities, and student loans.
Hours after this proposal was announced, President-elect Joe Biden presented his economic team at a press conference and urged lawmakers to provide this urgent help to state and local governments to preserve "vital public services" such as the police, firefighters and teachers.
"Congress should meet and pass a robust relief package to address these urgent needs. But any package passed this inert season between one government and the other is likely to be, at best, just a beginning," he said , "we have to act immediately, together."
Biden said they had put together "a first-rate team that is going to help us rebuild the economy better than it was before," adding, "that they share my fundamental vision for economic relief for the United States."
In addition to nominating former Federal Reserve Chairman Janet Yellen as Secretary of the Treasury Department, Biden selected former Barack Obama economic adviser Adewale Adeyemo as undersecretary.
Adeyemo is currently president of the Obama Foundation.
Neera Tanden was nominated to head the Office of Management and Budget.
Tanden is president and CEO of the Center for American Progress, a left-wing think tank, and was a senior adviser on health care reform (known as Obamacare) under former President Barack Obama.
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One of the key priorities of Biden's economic team will be
tackling unemployment.
The last two weekly reports of requests for jobless relief show that this is still a monumental obstacle to the country's recovery.
Biden also appointed labor economist
Cecilia Rouse
, dean of the School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University, to chair the White House Council of Economic Advisers.
Two members of his inner business circle,
Jared Bernstein and Heather Boushey
, will
serve on
the Council.
"By far, Biden's top two priorities are dealing with the pandemic and the economic fallout," our sister network, Stephen Myrow, a partner at Beacon Policy Advisors, a public policy research firm, told NBC News.
"First and foremost, Biden looks for people who have a certain amount of experience, and he has a preference for people with whom he has a pre-existing employment relationship."
The number of labor economists on the president-elect's team was noted by political observers, who say this communicates a key priority for the Administration.
"This is Scranton Joe," Myrow said.
"Work is a key focus for him."
With information from The Washington Post and NBC News.
