The belated $ 900 billion pandemic deal that Congress announced Sunday offers rare good news over the holidays of a brutal year and a measure of short-term relief for laid-off workers and closed businesses hammered by a double health and economic crisis.
The most optimistic interpretation of the agreement is that despite a tortured trial, a deeply divided Capitol Hill eventually found a path to consensus, pushed by a core of more moderate bipartisan senators who compromised in a time-honored way.
Steps to extend unemployment benefits, make $ 600 incentive payments to some adults, collect food stamps and send money to food supplies, accelerate vaccine implementation, and keep businesses like restaurants afloat will make a tangible difference in the U.S. life. But it’s not like Congress had a choice, and its delay greatly exacerbated the pain of many Americans.
The hardship caused by the latest Covid-19 wave came at a time when some unemployment benefits had already expired and many civilians were deported or starving. New restrictions stemming from the out-of-control pandemic are choking businesses and threaten to reverse a stagnant recovery period.
And any idea that Sunday’s breakthrough is a model for a less dysfunctional Washington during a new presidency next year is undermined by how the bitter process of recent weeks has revealed massive ideological rifts, suggesting that the divorce has broken into a political system is getting bigger. extreme. This was confirmed by the fact that Congress must always approve short-term bills to avoid a government shutdown.
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