Biden’s plan for stimulus relief

We are only days away from finding out who the next president of the United States of America is going to be.

Or at least we hope.

There have been accusations and investigations going on about potential voter fraud especially as it pertains to mail-in voting.

This means that we could have a major controversy on our hands come November 4th.

Depending on the amount and degree of alleged fraud, this controversy could drag out for weeks upon weeks or even months.

But let’s assume that it is a clean election and that the winner is declared soon after election day.

What if the winner is Joe Biden?

What does that mean for more stimulus relief?

Well, yesterday Nancy Pelosi reiterated that she wants to push for a stimulus bill before inauguration day.

So while I am still a little bit doubtful about that happening, there is at least a possibility that we will not have to wait until 2021 for more relief.

But what about Biden’s plan?

Biden has outlined what his emergency action plan would be to help the economy recover from coronavirus.

One of the first actions he wants to take is authorizing the Defense Production Act.

He would like to expand testing capacity and the ability to trace contacts if someone tests positive in addition to the ability to surge equipment and supplies for hotspots.

This has been a key point of disagreement in the stimulus talks up to this point.

His plan also reiterates accountability for every dollar spent for emergency relief.

He mentions keeping as many people on the payroll as possible and providing more relief to small businesses such as loans.

Biden plans to enforce oversight over big corporations that might be seeking taxpayer assistance. The idea is to ensure that the assistance goes to the employees and not towards huge bonuses for CEOs or shareholders.

This would involve bans on buybacks and raises for executives and enhanced scrutiny on payroll plans.

There is of course talk about sending out more checks to families although the exact conditions or amounts of those checks is not specified.

There is also mention of a minimum of $10,000 per person of federal student loan forgiveness.

I believe this provision is the same one proposed earlier that was designed to only help people who could not afford to make payments (which doesn’t really make a lot of sense to me because that is not helping getting money immediately into the economy).

I think there will be an extension on student loan payment deferments which would be much more beneficial in my opinion.

Biden also mentions an increase in monthly Social Security checks by $200 a month.

Related: New bill may increase benefits for seniors impacted by coronavirus

Some of these items will never pass a Senate controlled by Republicans.

This makes me think that if a new relief package is passed before inauguration day it will not contain many of these provisions.

And if Democrats insist on passing them, then we will be back to the drawing board and likely waiting until January for any real movement.

If Democrats do gain control of Congress then there should not be the same incentive for a comprehensive package since they would be able to pass items once they gain control in the new year.

So hopefully that would incentivize them to at least pass some standalone legislation for much-needed items like stimulus checks prior to 2021.

If you’d like, you can find out more about Biden’s plan here.

Related

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