The talks for a fourth stimulus package due to COVID are in the making and do not seem to have much chance of prospering in the United States Congress.
The rise in cases due to the impact of the Omicron variant in the country and the increase in inflation would not be enough to achieve enough support to make way for new legislation that allows the disbursement of more money to Americans.
The proposal of senators Ben Cardin and Roger Wicker, Democrat and Republican, respectively, seek to spend some $68,000 million dollars to support businesses such as restaurants, theaters and gyms, among others.
However, according to four sources who spoke on condition of anonymity to The Washington Post, the legislators have not yet defined the piece of legislation. In addition to the above, the division among the congressmen due to the burden that a new aid package could imply in the government deficit complicates the possibilities of speeding up their discussion.
For the time being, Cardin and Wicker have limited themselves to meeting with legislators from both parties to gather support and be able to move forward with the proposal.
For her part, Jen Psaki, press secretary of the White House, highlighted this Wednesday that the Government invested $130,68 millions of additional dollars to the states to try to mitigate the spread of infections in schools .
When questioned about talks between legislators for another stimulus check, the spokeswoman limited herself to indicating that the Administration he represents maintains constant discussions with members of Congress.
The delegations in Washington have not yet been able to agree on the guidelines of the social investment plan promoted by the president Joe Biden, known as “Build Back Better” (BBB or Rebuild better).
The legislation, valued at $1.7 billion dollars, has been stalled in Congress since last month due to the opposition not only from Republicans but from conservative Democratic senators like Joe Machin who believe the measure would increase the government deficit.
This Wednesday, Biden expressed his willingness to continue cutting the value of the plan in order to bring it to a vote.
“I think we can cut the package, get as much as we can now and come back and fight for the rest”, indicated the chief executive in a press conference.
“I have been talking with several of my colleagues in the Capitol Biden added. “I think it is clear that we are going to be able to obtain support for the $500 billion dollars for energy and the environment,” Biden said in reference to the figure directed to the climate area .
This discussion is worth the It is worth adding that some experts already anticipate a drop in Omicron cases in the United States due to the record numbers in December and this month, which could detract from the argument for the need for more help due to the new strain of COVID. .