President Donald Trump signed a bill containing $900 billion in pandemic relief, the White House said, triggering the flow of aid to individuals and businesses and averting the risk of a partial government shutdown on Tuesday.
In addition to aid to stem the economic effects of the pandemic, the legislation Congress passed Monday also includes $1.4 trillion in government spending to fund federal agencies through the end of the fiscal year in September. The government had been operating on temporary spending authority that expires after the end of the day Monday.
Dan McAllister was elected San Diego County’s Treasurer-Tax Collector in November 2002 and re-elected to his fourth term in June 2014 by an overwhelming 99% majority of the vote. Not only is he responsible for the collection of more than $5.5 billion in property taxes each year, but his office also manages the Investment Pool which reached an all-time high of $10.1 billion in April of 2016, ensuring that these funds are wisely invested and safeguarded for entities such as the school districts and cities in the County.� Since assuming office, he has worked extensively to improve customer service, enhance communications and outreach initiatives, and has made numerous operational improvements. He is also a strong advocate for diversity.� This is reflected in his staff, which encompasses professionals from all walks of life and backgrounds. His office now delivers service in 16 different languages.Dan also serves as a member of the San Diego County Employees Retirement Association, which manages more than $10 billion of investments. Additionally, he is a former chairman of the Board of Directors of the internationally recognized San Diego Convention Center Corporation.� Prior to his election as San Diego County Treasurer-Tax Collector, Dan was a successful financial consultant and investment broker.Dan contributes considerable time and resources to community service, such as serving as Chair of the San Diego Unified School District’s Special Audit and Finance Committee and is a participating member of the Boards of Directors of the Jackie Robinson YMCA; Habitat for Humanity, San Diego; and New Americans Museum, San Diego. �McAllister’s strong commitment and involvement in the community dates back to his service as a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer in the Western Pacific country of Micronesia.A second-generation San Diegan, Dan holds a Bachelor’s degree (BA) from CaliforniaStateUniversity, Fresno, and a Master’s degree in Business Administration (MBA) from United StatesInternationalUniversity. He has also completed executive education programs in portfolio concepts and management at StanfordUniversity and the University of Pennsylvania’s WhartonSchool.
Mark Gongloff is an editor at Bloomberg News.
Ale Brown is founder and principal consultant at Kirke Management Consulting. She started her career as an IT professional working for large corporations such as Procter & Gamble and Johnson & Johnson. She also ventured into the entrepreneurial world working for boutique consulting firms when she moved to Vancouver. Her specialties at the time were the implementation and management of ERP systems and customer relationship management (CRM) strategies.
During her last corporate job with J&J, she partnered with various commercial groups in the organization, providing IT solutions in the area of sales force effectiveness and digital marketing. This is when she was thoroughly exposed to the world of privacy and data management.
Brown founded Kirke Management Consulting in 2014, with the goal to help organizations excel in their business objectives by finding opportunities for growth, while at the same time managing risks that could prevent their success. For more information, visit www.kirke-consulting.com or contact contact@kirke-consulting.com.
The combined $2.3 trillion package was the product of intense negotiations, from which Trump was largely absent until he surprised lawmakers of both parties by demanding bigger stimulus payments for individuals after the bill was already passed.
Trump said in the statement announcing the signing that the GOP Senate had agreed to vote on increasing the $600 individual payments and two other, unrelated matters dealing with social media and his unfounded allegations of voter fraud.
His delay in signing it means those aid payments will likely be later than Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin had promised and may cut a week from the supplemental unemployment benefits that were part of the package and scheduled to end in March.
The virus relief package will likely be the last major legislation signed by Trump, whose re-election hopes were dashed in large part due to his handling of the pandemic.
President-elect Joe Biden has said he will push for even more stimulus after taking office early next year, but it remains unclear whether Republicans in Congress would go along. Control of the Senate will be determined by the outcome of two runoff elections in Georgia on Jan 5.
Lawmakers approved the government funding and additional relief at the last possible moment before they were set to leave Washington for a year-end break. Business leaders have called on Congress to pass more stimulus for months, saying that restaurants, theaters, mom-and-pop stores and airlines were being decimated by closures and restrictions as Covid-19 cases spiked in the U.S.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer announced a relief deal on Sunday after more than a week of frantic talks sparked by a bipartisan group of senators who drafted their own compromise proposal and urged their leaders to act. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, representing the administration, also was involved in the talks.
Trump surprised even his fellow Republicans on Tuesday by tweeting a video saying that he wanted Congress to increase the size of stimulus payments for individuals to $2,000, from the $600 in the bill Congress passed. He also complained about federal spending on foreign aid and international programs, even though those funds were allocated as part of the bipartisan appropriations process for funding the government.