Stimulus Future Still Uncertain After Election

The status of a new stimulus bill is still up in the air as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has again balked at Democrats’ urging for a large stimulus, according to a CNN.

McConnell said a large amount of money spent on the bill is “not a place I think we’re willing to go.” Instead, he said he wants a bill that is “highly targeted at what the residual problems are,” CNN reported.

By contrast, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said the recent election result awarding the president’s seat to President-elect Joe Biden proved that they needed to keep fighting for a larger bill. He said the fact that “the Joe Biden approach was embraced” meant they had a good chance of getting a bill in the lame duck session before inauguration in January, CNN reported.

The Senate is back in session, and so far the two camps don’t seem to have found a path to agreeing to a bill, even despite advice from top political experts and economists that a new package would help to stave off the worst impacts of the virus, CNet reported. The experts said moves such as adding more unemployment benefits, sending out more individual checks and funding vaccine development and distribution could all move the economy in the right direction.

Meanwhile, Biden will face COVID-19 relief as one of the most pressing issues as he enters office next year. According to Fox 8, he said Democratic congressional leaders know his position on virus relief.

On the campaign trail, Biden said his position if elected was that the government “must spend whatever it takes, without delay, to meet public health needs and deal with the mounting economic consequence,” although he didn’t elaborate further at that time, Fox 8 reported.

PYMNTS reported that Biden’s proposed plan would come with $1,200 stimulus checks for adults and $600 per week in extra unemployment benefits, which would last for as long as necessary, and more small business aid.

But, as PYMNTS reported, the chances of a new stimulus in the range of $2.3 trillion, which is what was seen earlier this year, is unlikely with the lack of a new Democratic majority after the election, with both sides still gridlocked. Time could be running out because of many small businesses’ diminishing funds.