White House unveils big business support for $ 1.9 trillion COVID contingency plan with CEOs including Google, Goldman Sachs and AT&T bosses saying it is ‘essential’
- President Joe Biden’s emergency relief bill of $ 1.9 trillion COVID-19 is getting a boost from big business
- More than 160 senior executives in seven major industries have written to conference leaders supporting the package
- “Congress needs to act swiftly and on a two-pronged basis to approve an incentive and aid package,” the letter said, pointing to the Biden-Harris plan.
- Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon and Google CEO Sundar Pichai were among the business leaders who signed the letter
President Joe Biden’s $ 1.9 trillion COVID-19 emergency is getting a boost from big business.
CNN reported Wednesday that more than 160 senior executives in seven major industries have written to congressional leaders supporting the package.
“Previous federal emergency measures were essential, but more needs to be done to put the country on the path to a vigorous and sustainable recovery,” the letter said. “Congress should act swiftly and on a two-pronged basis to approve an incentive and aid package along the lines of the US bailout proposed by the Biden-Harris administration.”
President Joe Biden’s $ 1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package received the support of more than 150 business leaders in the form of a letter sent to Congressional leaders on Wednesday
Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon (left) and Google CEO Sundar Pichai (right) were among the business leaders who signed the letter
At the White House press conference on Wednesday, press secretary Jen Psaki said the letter proves that there is a “growing consensus” that this package must succeed.
Psaki said the letter was compiled by outside groups and not organized by the White House.
“We didn’t play an organizational role here,” she said.
Biden rolled out a $ 1.9 trillion package even before he was sworn in, and the House is expected to vote on it this week, with the Senate following shortly thereafter.
He justifies the cost by saying he ‘has to get big’ to face the economic crisis caused by the nearly year-long COVID-19 pandemic.
While the president had initially hoped to get some GOP support, especially from moderates in the Senate, so far no Republicans have bitten.
The White House has since defined ‘bipartisan’ as Republican voters who approve the package in elections.
The Rapid Response Director of the White House, Michael Gwin, tweeted figures Wednesday morning that said 60 percent of Republicans supported Biden’s bill.
The biggest complaint from the GOP lawmakers is that the plan is simply too expensive.
Senate leader Mitch McConnell has also complained that the package is “utterly biased.”
Progressive Democrats want a $ 15 minimum wage to be included in the final bill, but that decision will have to be made by the Senate MP because reconciliation – meaning only a majority vote in the Senate is needed to pass – is likely to be used to pass the bill.
Among the corporate bosses signing the letter: Google CEO Sundar Pichai, AT&T CEO John Stankey, Comcast Chairman and CEO Brian Roberts, Lyft’s Co-Founder and President John Zimmer, Goldman Sachs Chairman and CEO David Solomon, and Blackstone’s Chairman and CEO Stephen Schwartzman, CNN reported.
“Strengthening the public health response to the coronavirus is the first step towards economic recovery,” the letter said. “The American Rescue Plan is mobilizing a national vaccination program, providing economic assistance to struggling families, and supporting communities most damaged by the pandemic.”
The US bailout includes money for vaccination efforts, for reopening schools, for small business emergency relief, and for comprehensive federal unemployment benefits. And it adds $ 1,400 to the previously expired $ 600 stimulus vouchers, in the amount of $ 2,000 that both former President Donald Trump and Biden wanted before leaving office.