Senate’s $2 Trillion Relief Bill Includes Direct Payments
Anna Moneymaker/The New York Times
We ran the numbers: There are 4422 news articles covering this topic. 21% (927) are left leaning, 43% (1915) center, 36% (1580) right leaning.
On Wednesday, the Senate approved a $2.2 trillion coronavirus stimulus package, which includes $300 million in direct payments to individuals. While left-leaning articles highlight the intense bipartisan negotiations that took place before passing the $2 trillion relief bill, right-leaning articles highlight Republican Representative Thomas Massie’s intentions to delay the coronavirus stimulus package vote.
A left-leaning article by The New York Times highlights that Republicans presented Democrats with an unacceptable, take-it-or-leave it proposition for the $2 trillion coronavirus package, which Republicans had boosted to $500 billion the size of a bailout fund for distressed businesses, but failed to meet Democrats’ request to allocate $150 billion to a “Marshall Plan” for hospitals on the front lines of the virus. When Senator Patrick J. Toomey, Republican of Pennsylvania, and Steven Mnuchin, Treasury secretary, called the White House to ask the president to weigh in on their dispute, President Trump told the pair to work it out themselves.
NPR published a centrist article reporting that despite promises from Trump and Mnuchin that the funds will be distributed within three weeks, experts say it will likely be months before the relief hits bank accounts. Those who earned more than $99,00 in 2018 or 2019 only qualify for the relief if they expect to make less than that sum in the coming year, and tax nonfilers would be left out unless they “hurry up and file a tax return for 2019.”
A right-leaning article by Fox News highlights concerns on Capitol Hill that Massie could “go rogue” and try to sidetrack House plans to quickly approve the coronavirus bill via a “voice vote,” a verbal exercise where those in favor shout yea and those opposed shout nay. It is unclear why Massie may want to delay the bill.
From the left
As coronavirus spread, largest stimulus in history united a polarized Senate
New York Times