Biden Urges Congress To Pass Emergency Coronavirus Package

President-elect Joe Biden has this week urged lawmakers in Congress to pass the coronavirus aid package that has been stalled in the process for months. Speaking at a briefing in which he formally announced picks for his economic team, Biden also promised more action to reinvigorate the economy once he takes office in January.

Federal unemployment benefits have been extended throughout 2020 to help the country cope with the ongoing pandemic and at its peak the benefits were funnelling around $12 billion every week into individual bank accounts. This money fueled rehiring, propped up spending and generally lessened the effects of the pandemic on the US economy.

Those benefits, however, are due to expire by the end of this year and with the country still economically reeling and the pandemic still persisting, there have been calls from numerous directions to extend the safety net while a coronavirus vaccine is rolled out throughout the country.

“We have to give aid to local and State governments to make sure they can have law enforcement officers, firefighters, educators, as we did in the recovery act of 2009,” president-elect Biden said at the briefing. “And right now the full Congress should come together and pass a robust package for relief to address these urgent needs. But any package passed in a lame duck session is likely to be at best, just a start.”

“My transition team is already working on what I’ll put forward in the next Congress to address the multiple crises we’re facing, especially our economic and COVID crisis.”

A $908 billion Covid-19 relief bill was unveiled by a bipartisan group of US lawmakers on Tuesday, who came together with the goal of breaking the long deadlock that has endured over new emergency assistance between Democrats and Republicans in recent months.

The emergency assistance will provide financial aid to small businesses, airlines, unemployed people and other industries affected by the pandemic. Biden has said that any such package passed by Congress before he took over as president would be ‘at best just a start.’

“The goal is simple, to keep businesses and schools open safely, and for millions of Americans who have lost their jobs or hours and have had to claim unemployment, we have to deliver them immediate relief,” Biden continued.

“That includes affordable health care for millions of people who have lost it and are in danger of losing it. Childcare, sick leave, family leave, so workers don’t have to choose between work and family. Relief from rent and student loans.

“We need to support small businesses and entrepreneurs who formed the backbone of the communities that we live in, that are teetering on the edge. Now there’s an urgent need to fund state and cities so they can, the frontline workers on those jobs can stay in the jobs,” he said.

Biden was speaking alongside his newly announced selections for senior economic roles in his cabinet. This includes his nominee for the Treasury Secretary, former Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen, who also spoke of the economic damage that the pandemic has caused in the United States, brandishing it ‘an American tragedy.’

“It’s essential that we move with urgency. Inaction will produce a self-reinforcing downturn, causing yet more devastation,” Yellen said.

“Let’s not forget who built this country, working class and middle-class people built this country, and unions built the middle class. And from the most unequal economic and job crisis in modern history, we can build a new American economy that works for all Americans, not just some, all,” Biden said.

“We need to act now, though. And we need to work together. In the week since winning the election, Vice President Harris and I have covered meetings with a number of people. We convened meetings with labor leaders and CEOs at the same time, mayors and governors of both political parties.

“There’s a consensus out there, that as we battle the COVID-19 disease, we have to make sure that business and workers have the tools, resources, and guidance, and the health and safety standards to be able to operate safely,” he added.

At the briefing, Biden also announced Neera Tanden as the Director of Office for Managing the Budget, as well as Wally Adeyemo as Deputy Secretary of Treasury. Cecilia Cece Rouse was announced by Biden as chairperson of the council of economic advisers, while Jared Bernstein and Heather Boushey were announced as members of the council of economic advisers.

“Almost one in every six renters was behind in rent payments as of October. Let me be clear, with this team and others we’ll add in the weeks ahead, that we’re going to create a recovery for everybody, for all. We’re going to get this economy moving again,” Biden said. “We’re going to create jobs, raise incomes, reduce drug prices, advance racial equity across the economy and restore the backbone of this country, the middle class.”