President Trump on Sunday signed a $900 billion pandemic relief package which will include $600 direct checks checks, abandoning his immediate demand that Congress go back to the drawing board and provide $2,000 checks, and instead encouraged them to vote on a separate bill to “increase payments to individuals from $600 to $2,000.”
“I am signing this bill to restore unemployment benefits, stop evictions, provide rental assistance, add money for PPP, return our airline workers back to work, add substantially more money for vaccine distribution, and much more,” Trump said in a Sunday night statement.
The pandemic relief package is coupled with $1.4 trillion in funds to run the government through September and includes other end-of-session priorities such as increases in food stamp benefits and funding for the transit system. Plus, tons of pork.
The bill authorizes direct checks of $600 for people earning up to $75,000 per year. The amount decreases for higher earners and people who make over $95,000 get nothing.
There’s an additional $600 per child stimulus payment.
The bill also creates a new $300 weekly unemployment supplement and replenishes a forgivable loan program for small businesses. It also creates new criminal penalties including prison time for violating copyright laws with online streaming.