The House of Representatives adopted, Friday, May 15, a Democratic proposal for a new titanic aid plan of 3,000 billion dollars (2,772.6 billion euros) to fight against the ravages of the coronavirus pandemic in United States, which should not however be approved by the Senate, republican. The majority democratic lower house approved the text by 208 votes in favor and 199 against. Fourteen Democrats voted against and one Republican voted for it.
This text is "Stillborn", hammer the Republicans and the American president, Donald Trump, whose signature is necessary for it to come into force. The head of the Republican majority in the Senate, Mitch McConnell, considered that the Democratic proposal was not "Not serious at all". He could therefore even avoid submitting it to the vote of the upper house.
New direct payments to Americans
Reaching an unprecedented $ 3 trillion, this bill includes new direct payments to Americans and nearly $ 1 trillion for states and local communities to pay the wages of public employees "Essential" in hospitals, schools … It also provides funds for small and medium-sized businesses, research on screening and tracing, and food aid for the most modest.
“Approve this law to give families the support they need. These are the American people. These are our families. They are suffering, they need help, we have the means and the possibility to do so ”said Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in the Chamber.
The day before, she had admitted that this text could serve as a starting point for negotiations. "It does not seem to me that another $ 3 trillion plan should be the goal" of the moment, Donald Trump’s economic adviser Larry Kudlow said earlier on Friday.
The White House and the Republicans advocate a " pause " to assess the impact of measures of historic scale already implemented, with the adoption at the end of March of a titanic stimulus package of $ 2.2 trillion, supplemented by $ 500 billion of new measures at the end of April.