Congress Delivers Nearly $500B More in Virus Aid
Greg Nash/The Hill
We ran the numbers: There are 1452 news articles covering this topic. 36% (519) are left leaning, 34% (488) center, 31% (445) right leaning.
On Thursday, Congress delivered a nearly $500 billion infusion of coronavirus spending. While left-leaning articles highlight that the House overwhelmingly passed the aid package, right-leaning articles highlight the package’s infusion to the Paycheck Protection Program.
A left-leaning article by Bloomberg reports that the House overwhelmingly passed and sent to President Trump a $484 billion coronavirus aid package, even as members were already at odds over the next phase of rescue legislation. Many members took the advice of Congress’ attending physician to wear masks, and between the two votes, the House took a short break so the chamber could be disinfected.
The Associated Press published a centrist article highlighting that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif said, “This is really a very, very, very sad day. We come to the floor with nearly 50,000 deaths, a huge number of people impacted, and the uncertainty of it all. We hope to soon get to a recovery phase. But right now we’re still in mitigation.” Signs of the pandemic were everywhere in the House chamber Thursday, as Pelosi was wearing a white scarf that covered much of her face, while House Chaplain Patrick Conroy delivered the opening prayer wearing a yellow protective mask.
A right-leaning article by Fox News highlights that the $484 billion relief package will deliver a $310 billion infusion to the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), a forgivable loan program that ran out of money last week amid skyrocketing demand from hurting small businesses. Within the $310 billion in PPP funding, $30 billion is reserved for community-based lenders, small banks and credit unions, and $30 billion for mid-sized banks and credit unions.