Here are key COVID-19 economic relief provisions that have been passed by House committees, including $1,400 stimulus checks for many Americans, a boost to federal unemployment benefits and an extension of the 15% increase in food stamp benefits.
Experts and lawmakers argue that Americans need at least six months of jobless pandemic relief.
Pension funding diverted money from unemployment aid, an economist says.
President Joe Biden called on Congress to extend $400 weekly unemployment benefits through the end of September. The House Ways and Means Committee heard the president s request and included the weekly benefits but it cut them off a month early.
Unemployment benefits are set to expire on March 14 if Congress does not pass a stimulus package before then, putting 11.4 million Americans at risk of losing needed aid.
Citing the high unemployment during the pandemic, Biden has said months of federal unemployment benefits are needed to ensure Americans won t have to deal with a lapse in needed aid. But House Democrats added funding for multiemployer pensions in their pandemic relief bill, which left only enough funding for five months of extra unemployment benefits through the end of August.