Speaker 1: It's Thursday March. I'm Oscar Ramirez from the Daily Dive
Speaker 1: podcast in Los Angeles, and this is your daily coronavirus update.
Speaker 1: Congress is working to pass a two trillion dollar coronavirus
Speaker 1: stimulus package to keep the economy moving while everything is
Speaker 1: shut down to help slow the spread of COVID nineteen.
Speaker 1: This will be the third emergency spending package Congress has
Speaker 1: advanced and the largest economic aid measure in US history.
Speaker 1: It will include direct payments to Americans, help for small businesses,
Speaker 1: and help for hospitals and healthcare workers. Elena Trine, White
Speaker 1: House reporter at Axios, joins us for how the stimulus
Speaker 1: bill could help you. Thanks for joining us, Elena, Yes,
Speaker 1: thanks for having Congress is working on this two trillion
Speaker 1: dollar coronavirus stimulus package. It's one of these rare bipartisan
Speaker 1: agreements that is being pushed through. And also people have
Speaker 1: been calling with the biggest bailout in history, this is
Speaker 1: something that's going to impact ordinary citizens the country, businesses
Speaker 1: both large and small pretty quickly too. So Alena, tell
Speaker 1: us a little bit about the bill, and then let's
Speaker 1: talk about how it's going to help people individually. So, uh, massive,
Speaker 1: massive rescue package around two trillion dollars, so beyond that
Speaker 1: of what Congress had delivered and the government had delivered
Speaker 1: following the two thousand eight financial crisis. And its impact
Speaker 1: is really a lot of money. Billions towards small businesses,
Speaker 1: billions toward large corporations like airlines and hotels and industries
Speaker 1: that are being very hard by this direct payment to
Speaker 1: Americans to help them through these economic hard times as
Speaker 1: we face a recession, as my business editors telling ahead.
Speaker 1: And it really it's just, you know, it's a ton
Speaker 1: of money. I've spoken with a lot of people on
Speaker 1: the Hill and mind you, you you know, this was originally
Speaker 1: a Republican bill. It's really interesting to me that they
Speaker 1: haven't really thought that much about how to pay for this,
Speaker 1: or worried about the national debt or deficity here. The
Speaker 1: focus so far has been very much so on trying
Speaker 1: to get much needed aid into hospitals, into communities, and
Speaker 1: much needed money into Americans hands. That's an important distinction.
Speaker 1: We really don't know how we'll pay for all this.
Speaker 1: This is going to be added to the national debt.
Speaker 1: The debt limit is actually suspended until so right now,
Speaker 1: it's not really a big concern. I mean, it's of
Speaker 1: course Republicans national debt, the deficit is always key on
Speaker 1: their minds. But from a lot of Republicans I've spoken with,
Speaker 1: they look at this as a much longer term problem,
Speaker 1: and they look at the deal that they're dealing with
Speaker 1: now is something that's emergency. It's emergency something, and they're
Speaker 1: worried about helping Americans doing in the comedy and keeping
Speaker 1: people slow during this hard time. First and foremost, the
Speaker 1: country needs to remain viable. People need help throughout all
Speaker 1: of this. People aren't working, people are getting reduced hours,
Speaker 1: just tons of stuff is going on. So first and foremost, yeah,
Speaker 1: we need to take care of that. But obviously we
Speaker 1: know this is very important for the president because the
Speaker 1: economy needs to be doing good for him to be
Speaker 1: also doing good on that front. So let's get into
Speaker 1: some of the details that we know. There's gonna be
Speaker 1: direct payments made to a lot of Americans. Most Americans
Speaker 1: will be received know one time direct deposit of up
Speaker 1: to twelve hundred dollars. Couples will get hundred, and those
Speaker 1: will be phased out based on income levels. So if
Speaker 1: you make seventy five thousand a year or less, you
Speaker 1: will receive this full twelve hundred dollar payments that will
Speaker 1: phase out up until those who received annually. If you
Speaker 1: receive ninety nine annually or more, you will not get
Speaker 1: that direct payment. Families will receive an additional five hundred
Speaker 1: dollars per child. And this is true. One question I
Speaker 1: know that a lot of axios aders are begetting is
Speaker 1: what about those who receive Social Security or other means
Speaker 1: tested benefit programs that that's your sole source of income.
Speaker 1: This does apply to those people. If you rely on
Speaker 1: Social Security, rely on other benefits, you will still receive
Speaker 1: these direct payments. How about small businesses? I've seen that
Speaker 1: over three hundred billion dollars are gonna be sent to
Speaker 1: small businesses. What do we know about that? And then
Speaker 1: is this something that they have to apply for? And
Speaker 1: all that they're in the loan guarantees and so people
Speaker 1: who want to get alone, there's a hundred and fifty
Speaker 1: seven billion and low guarantee for small businesses. And those
Speaker 1: are four these businesses that are keeping their workers on
Speaker 1: the payroll even though they're still at home. And so
Speaker 1: they look at this as small businesses. Companies five hundred
Speaker 1: employees or less, and you can get up to ten
Speaker 1: million dollars in forgivable for almost business loans. And that
Speaker 1: is a very key being there to say forgivable. So
Speaker 1: the way that they've structured distimiest package is small businesses
Speaker 1: will these loans will be forgiven, whereas for some of
Speaker 1: the larger corporations like the airline industries and others, they
Speaker 1: will have to pay these back over time. About of
Speaker 1: people that are unemployed losing jobs because of this, uh,
Speaker 1: I know that there's been a lot made about everybody
Speaker 1: just kind of cutting back, so they're having to start
Speaker 1: furlow workers, all sorts of stuff like that. What about
Speaker 1: unemployment the programs extended Unemployment Insurance program Chuck Schumer and
Speaker 1: set up Minority Leader has actually called it unemployment on steroids.
Speaker 1: It expands eligibility and offers workers in additional six hundred
Speaker 1: dollars per week on top of what they would already
Speaker 1: be getting from the state, and that will extend for
Speaker 1: four months. It also extenses benefits through December of thirty
Speaker 1: one through the end of this year, and for load
Speaker 1: workers can stay on as employees so that when this
Speaker 1: crisis ends, you can quickly go back to work. We've
Speaker 1: been talking a lot about hospitals and healthcare workers and
Speaker 1: the shortages that they face with masks and other protective equipment.
Speaker 1: We know ventilators are a big issue for the most
Speaker 1: severe cases of COVID nineteen. What does this bill do
Speaker 1: for them? So big thing that a lot of Democrats
Speaker 1: had pushed for in these negotiations was to give more
Speaker 1: money direct the hospitals, provide more money to some of
Speaker 1: those supplies and resources that hospitals and communities across the
Speaker 1: country are shortage of. So this will inject a hundred
Speaker 1: billion dollars into hospitals and the country's health systems and
Speaker 1: provide billions in some of those resources like PPE, as
Speaker 1: people call it, the personal protective equipment for health care workers.
Speaker 1: More money for testing supplies, more training, and of force development.
Speaker 1: And these are just a few things. I mean, if
Speaker 1: if you go through the bill, you'll see there's a
Speaker 1: lot more an aid and defining exactly what different if
Speaker 1: you're you know, if you're a nurse or your doctor,
Speaker 1: there's a lot more there for you. But these are
Speaker 1: the kind of broad scope of what they're giving to
Speaker 1: the health community. And what about the big industries, airlines,
Speaker 1: cruise lines. They're getting hit especially hard throughout all of this.
Speaker 1: But this is also kind of a sticking point when
Speaker 1: they make tons of money also, and this time they're
Speaker 1: really getting hit hard. What about them? Five billion is
Speaker 1: a lotted in loans to these large corporations, and twenty
Speaker 1: five billion of that five hundred billions it cuts out
Speaker 1: directly for airlines. It's really twenty nine billion if you
Speaker 1: include cargo air carriers, so billion will be giving to
Speaker 1: passenger air carriers. For billion is going for some of
Speaker 1: these cargo air carriers, and then five hundred billion in
Speaker 1: total for some of these other industries, large corporations, hotels,
Speaker 1: cruise lines. All of that will be wrapped into this.
Speaker 1: And this is something that a lot of Democrats had
Speaker 1: criticized initially and that they had called it the treasuries
Speaker 1: corporate slush funds. But they have succeeded in creating an
Speaker 1: oversight panel, including a Treasury Inspector General, that will oversee
Speaker 1: the dedications of these funds and these loans. And again
Speaker 1: these loans, unlike those of small businesses and the loans
Speaker 1: that they're getting, these loans will have to be paid
Speaker 1: back and they cannot exceed five years. Elena Train, White
Speaker 1: House reporter at Axios, thank you very much for joining us.
Speaker 1: Thank you and thanks for sticking with me. I'm Oscar
Speaker 1: Ramiers and this has been your daily coronavirus update. Don't
Speaker 1: forget that. For today's big news stories, you can check
Speaker 1: me out on the Daily Dive podcast every Monday through Friday.
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