The Next Senate Vote On The Coronavirus Bill Is At 9:45 AM On Monday. It will be shortly after the opening of the stock market, and it is designed to get the nation through the next 3 months.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi is responsible for stopping the bill on Sunday and says the House will pass its own legislation and it will reflect her priorities. 60 votes are needed for passage but on Sunday the GOP had only 47.
The number of “aye” votes was especially low because five Republicans are quarantined over coronavirus fears.
Senate Democrats blocked the $1.8 trillion coronavirus bill from moving forward on Sunday night. They did so even though the legislation is aimed at arresting the economy’s precipitous decline, and households and businesses fretting about an uncertain future.
The stock market appears poised for another sharp drop.
The Trump administration and the GOP are scrambling to address a spike in layoffs and businesses are gasping as millions of Americans stay home to avoid contagion.
Much of the U.S. economy is frozen as Americans stay home and cut back on spending.
The stock market has lost 10,000 points in six weeks and 3 million people filed for unemployment benefits last week alone.
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis says the unemployment rate could hit 30 percent between April and June because of mass layoffs, which would be worse than what occurred during the Great Depression.
The bill is designed to flood the economy with money in an effort to protect millions of jobs and businesses that now appear to be on the brink.
It would direct payments of $1,200 to most American adults and $500 to children.
It would steer $350 billion towards small businesses to stem the tide of layoffs, and push billions more towards hospitals and the unemployment insurance system. And it would create a massive, $500 billion program for businesses, states, and localities.
The legislation also includes about $100 billion for hospitals and about $250 billion to beef up state unemployment insurance programs.