Greenstein: New Relief Proposal Well Designed, Urgently Needed

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) President Robert Greenstein issued a statement last night on the new proposal for COVID-19 relief:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s release yesterday of a revised package to address the virus and economic slump is an important and hopeful step. While the new package scales back the House-passed Heroes bill from $3.4 trillion to $2.2 trillion, it does so in sound ways, and the resulting package is both well designed and urgently needed. We hope this leads the White House and GOP congressional leaders to reciprocate now by moving much closer to what the revised Heroes measure contains.

Especially important is the kind of relief the proposal includes:

While about one-third smaller in cost than the earlier Heroes legislation, the new package contains the same core elements, which together form a strong response to the crisis: food, housing, and income assistance to tens of millions of struggling households, including improvements in jobless benefits; state and local fiscal relief to avert budget cuts that would exacerbate hardship and further weaken the economy; and a strong public health response.

If policymakers can’t agree on a package with these core elements, the coming months will be much more difficult for many individuals and families across the country, for numerous small businesses, and for the economy as a whole.

More on why Speaker Pelosi’s revised package is a step in the right direction.