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.
Jason Wenk is the founder and CEO of Altruist, a wealth management platform built for independent advisors. With more than 25 years of experience in financial services and technology, he has worked across the industry as a quantitative analyst, financial advisor and fintech founder.
Peter Rodes is vice president of innovation and advisory services, for RGAX, the transformation engine of Reinsurance Group of America, Incorporated (RGA). Based in Chicago, Peter is a member of RGAX’s Emerging Solutions team, with a global role in developing novel and/or disruptive approaches to engaging with life and health insurance consumers to enable them to live healthier, longer, and more financially secure lives. Peter joins RGAX with more than 25 years of experience in health care, marketing and insurance.
As Program Manager, Global Product Portfolio Management for RGAX, the transformation engine of RGA Reinsurance Company, Eva Goldstein has global responsibility for RGA’s product framework, helping RGA and RGAX launch and scale industry-leading products and services. Based in Toronto, Eva brings more than 20 years of industry experience and a deep knowledge of both traditional and non-traditional parts of the business to her role, including local and global business development, alternative distribution, group healthcare, and most recently, strategic partnership management for RGAX.
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.