Senate passes $2.2 trillion emergency relief bill

Chuck Schumer.
(Image credit: David Dee Delgado/Getty Images)

The Senate unanimously passed a $2.2 trillion stimulus package late Wednesday that aims to provide economic relief to businesses and individuals during the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.

The measure expands unemployment benefits, gives $100 billion to hospitals dealing with coronavirus, provides $350 billion in federally guaranteed loans to small businesses, and sends direct payments of $1,200 to Americans earning up to $75,000.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said the measure is "historic because it is meant to match a historic crisis. Our health care system is not prepared to care for the sick. Our workers are without work. Our businesses cannot do business. Our factories lie idle. The gears of the American economy have ground to a halt."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

The House is expected to vote on the legislation — the largest economic relief bill in U.S. history — on Friday.

To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.