What are the Aids Included in the $900 Billion Stimulus Package?
Pres. Donald Trump recently signed a $2.4 trillion spending bill including a $900 billion stimulus package. Aside from stimulus checks and unemployment benefits, there are more aids you can receive.
The direct stimulus checks and unemployment benefits have been the center of the newly approved stimulus package.
But there are more measures and aids that everyone should know about the new rescue package that Pres. Trump signed it into law.
Read also: New Relief Bill Includes $13 Billion for Food Stamps
Other Aids Under the New Stimulus Package
Millions of Americans and residents in the country have been talking only the two most important measures and these are the direct stimulus checks and unemployment benefits. But the newly approved roughly $900 billion stimulus package offers more to everyone.
The Relief Bill that Pres. Donald Trump signed recently attempts to address the far-reaching fallout of the virus that has infected millions in the country and claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands, according to the data of the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.
Here are some of the provisions under the bill that have got less attention, according to a published article in the USA Today:
Read more: New Relief Bill: Everything You Need to Know About Stimulus Checks, Unemployment Benefits
1.Funding for Live Stage Venues
Performing arts centers, independent movie theaters, and other cultural institutions have been hit hard by the global pandemic. The stay-at-home order and restriction of social gatherings have forced these industries to shut down their operation.
Under the new Stimulus Package, an amount of $15 billion is included for them. However, not all are eligible for this measure. Only those that have already closed or are at risk of shutting down would be eligible for the federal grants, according to Sen. John Cornyn.
2. Keeping Renters in their Homes
The global pandemic has led millions of individuals to be out of work and forced them not to earn money to pay their rents. When the CARES Act was signed last Mach, it provided assistance to families and prevented landlords who are about to toss out renters because they can no longer pay their rents. The law protected them until Dec. 31.
Meanwhile, the new Stimulus package allocated an amount of $25 billion to help millions of families who are renting. This will keep them protected against house eviction until Jan. 31. Moreover, members of the Democratic Party believe that they can widen the support once Pres-elect Joe Biden enters the White House.
3. Expanding the Internet in hard-to-reach areas
The global pandemic has also shifted different transactions and activities like health consultation, schooling, and more. The new stimulus package has included an amount of $1.3 billion to expand broadband on reservations and other rural pockets of the country, and an infrastructure program many lawmakers have long sought to address to close the digital divide.
With the presence of the infectious and deadly COVID-19, this will help millions of Americans and other residents in the country to have telehealth and makes access to the already sparse medical resources even more limited and doctors could also increase their connection to their patients.
Another benefit of this measure is distance learning, this will benefit students who rely on their studies on the internet after the in-person classes were eliminated.
Other measures in the new stimulus package include assistance for the transportation systems, funding to increase the mental health substance abuse services, lending aid in the agriculture sector, and forgiving a loan to the U.S. Postal Service.