Trump signs the law that releases a new stimulus of almost 900,000 million and prevents a government shutdown
The January slope is smoothed out for Americans. Finally, the president, Donald Trump, signed the law that contains a new stimulus package of almost 900,000 million dollars, about 4.3% of GDP, which could boost the estimated growth for between half a point and up to 2.7 percentage points. 2021.
"The second round of support is almost half the size of the first but comes at a time when the recovery is moving forward and will support confidence and revenue until the mass distribution of the vaccine," said Ellen Zentner, an economist at Morgan Stanley. Precisely on Wednesday we learned how personal spending fell 0.4% in November when income dropped 1.1%. ?
A bill attached to the bill worth 1.4 trillion dollars to finance the federal government until the end of next September whose mattress will once again distribute checks to national taxpayers. However, the 600 dollars per head and child that will receive those who entered less than 75,000 dollars annually in 2019, an amount that doubles for couples and is half of what was agreed on March 27, are not enough in the eyes of the Republican president who will leave the Oval Office on January 20.
The White House tenant has criticized some of the items included in the 5,593 pages and demanded that lawmakers raise direct payments to $ 2,000, more than tripling the amount included in the current plan that he called "ridiculous." However, following pressures that threatened a government shutdown and millions of Americans running out of unemployment benefits, Trump signed the bill late Sunday in Mar-a-Lago, where he spends his vacation.
"I have told Congress that I want much less money to be spent and more to go to the American people in the form of checks for $ 2,000 per adult and $ 600 per child," the president insisted in his remarks during the signing of the distributed bill. by the White House.
In fact, the president specified that he will make use of a law passed in 1974 (the Impoundment Control Act) that will allow him to include a formal request to the Congress of rescission of funds that he considers wasted or unnecessary.
In addition, Trump recalled that on Monday the House of Representatives, in control of the Democrats, will vote a bill to increase direct payments from $ 600 to $ 2,000. A measure that does not have much chance, at least for now, of being approved in the Senate, where Republicans are in the majority.
Still, even with payments of $ 600 per individual and child, economists agree that the new stimulus package will serve as a balm to the recovery, especially in the coming months.
"We estimate that the new stimulus package will contribute approximately 2.7 percentage points to growth in 2021," says Michelle Meyer, an economist at Bank of America Securities. Other experts, such as Paul Ashworth, an economist at Capital Economics, believe that these measures will boost GDP growth next year by half a percentage point to 5.5%.
In addition to the direct payments, the additional federal government unemployment benefit of $ 300 per week is also extended until March 14, along with other programs, such as aid for the self-employed. In this way, an average unemployed American could receive about $ 672 a week. In the first stimulus remittance approved almost 9 months ago and whose total size reached 2.2 trillion dollars, an unemployed person received up to 972 dollars a week.
At the same time, at least another $ 285 billion in loan loss for small businesses is guaranteed as part of the Payroll Protection Program (PPP). Aid is also earmarked for industries such as movie theaters and theaters as well as airlines, which will receive another $ 15 billion in support of payroll payments.
Other items include 54,000 million for education and 14,000 million for transit agencies. State and local governments will be able to access funds totaling $ 150 billion to defray expenses related to the pandemic.
"Without additional stimulus, the economy would be 1.5 percentage points smaller in 2021, with another 1 percentage point carry-over spread between 2022 and 2023 so we would return to the potentiated growth rate much later, at the end of 2023." Beth Ann Bovino, chief US economist at S&P Global, highlights the crucial role that this new spending stream will play in an analysis.
