Late on Sunday, December 27
th, after initially raising concerns about the pandemic relief measure that had overwhelmingly passed Congress days before, President Trump signed the measure into law, ending a long political stalemate and beginning the process of sending financial relief to American families and small businesses, further aiding the American economy. As with the CARES Act enacted in March, this bill, the “Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021,” passed the House and Senate overwhelmingly, on a bipartisan vote of 359-53 in the House, followed swiftly by a 92-6 vote in the Senate.
1 With an official price tag of approximately $900 billion, it is the second largest stimulus measure ever enacted by Congress.
By Staff Reports, posted Jan 8, 2021
This year is expected to include some of the same themes as 2020, from what will become of the countyâs proceeds from the sale of New Hanover Regional Medical Center to more COVID-19 news. While COVID-19’s impact on the economy will remain a focus this year, other expected newsmakers in 2021 include New Hanover Regional Medical Center, the film industry and the Port of Wilmington.
Big Picture
Although 2020 is in the rearview, its effects are expected to linger with the potential for even rockier economic times this year.
“I am optimistic that in 2021 our small businesses will begin to see more of a recovery beginning in the third quarter of 2021 if we can turn the tide of the pandemic with the vaccine and a comprehensive strategy to eliminate it,” said Jerry Coleman, director of the Small Business Center at Cape Fear Community College, in December. “The next several months, however, will
January 8, 2021 By Waterways Journal
After a tense couple of weeks due to President Donald Trump’s threats to veto the $2.3 trillion Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 (H.R. 133), an omnibus appropriations bill that included this year’s Water Resources Development Act (WRDA), he finally signed it into law. None of the president’s disagreements with Congress over the bill had anything to do with WRDA itself, but instead concerned issues like the amount of the stimulus checks for each American in the $900 billion COVID-19 relief portion of the bill, and various foreign expenditures.
Another part of the omnibus appropriations bill funded the Corps of Engineers’ Water Infrastructure Financing Program (CWIFP) for the first time ever. The program, first authorized (but not funded) in 2014, will “accelerate non-federal investments in water resources infrastructure by providing long-term, low-cost loans to cre