Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf on Thursday proposed a new plan to disperse a portion of the state’s unused coronavirus relief funds.
Wolf’s plan would appropriate $500 million of the state’s available $2 billion for direct payments of up to $2,000 to certain households throughout the state.
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An analysis from the Minnesota Management and Budget office detailed that the state’s budget surplus has increased to $9.253 billion.
The new number is an increase from a previous estimate published in December.
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Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers updated residents of the state on his latest efforts to spend more than $4 billion given to the state from coronavirus relief funds.
According to the governor, $1.3 billion has been directed to economic initiatives, roughly $1 billion for “community building,” and more than $500 million for education and child care.
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Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Tuesday signed the $106 million Enrolled Senate Bill 748, which includes $55 million to assist the state’s small businesses and $45 million for laid off and furloughed workers.
Whitmer also signed bipartisan Senate Bill 604, which extends unemployment benefits for Michiganders from 20 to 26 weeks until the end of March 2021. SB 604 was sponsored by state Sen. Curtis Hertel.
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Congresswoman Ilhan Omar (D-MN-05) and Senator Bernie Sanders (D-VT) introduced a bill Friday to tax billionaires sixty percent of their pandemic-earned assets. The proposed bill, “Make Billionaires Pay Act,” would use the tax money to cover individual healthcare expenses for one year.
In a tweeted video, Sanders argued billionaires have profited off the coronavirus pandemic while the rest of the country has suffered.
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Senate Republicans’ latest COVID-19 stimulus package proposes another round of direct payments to Americans and more enhanced federal unemployment benefits for workers who lose their jobs during coronavirus restrictions.
The $1 trillion package, called the Health, Economic Assistance, Liability Protection, and Schools (HEALS) Act was released Monday.
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Senate Democrats are planning to insert a provision in the coronavirus relief bill that would place restrictions on the Trump administration’s ability to send federal agents to help quell protests in cities across the country.
The provision would require federal agents to identify themselves, use marked vehicles and stay on federal property rather than patrol city streets, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Monday, according to NBC News. Local officials including mayors and governors would need to approve the use of federal agents patrolling streets.
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by Jason Hopkins Democratic lawmakers in Congress are calling on the federal government to make illegal aliens eligible for federal relief amid the coronavirus pandemic, while local and state Democratic leaders have already made their coffers available for those living unlawfully in the country. President Donald Trump signed the CARES Act on March 27, making $2.2 trillion in stimulus funds available for families and U.S. businesses hurting under the coronavirus-induced lockdown. The relief package not only provides up to $10 million in forgivable loans for each small business, but also $1,200 to single Americans who make $75,000 or less a year. While the stimulus package was by a wide margin in both chambers of Congress and was considered essential in the fight against COVID-19, not everyone was completely satisfied with the bill. “I was appalled to learn hardworking, taxpaying immigrants were left out of the $2 trillion CARES Act,” California Rep. Lou Correa said in a statement released on April 3. Correa, along with 49 other House Democrats, supports the Leave No Taxpayer Behind Act which, if passed into law, would allow illegal aliens to tap into the funds provided by the CARES Act. “By casting out immigrants, we are placing some of…
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