Jobless claims remain high, raising stakes for Trump’s demands on relief bill
If Trump does not sign the $900 billion stimulus package, 12 million Americans will lose unemployment aid after Christmas.
If Trump does not sign the $900 billion stimulus package, 12 million Americans will lose unemployment aid after Christmas.
Pfizer’s vaccine was the first to gain approval from the Food and Drug Administration and initial shipments went to states last week.
In a video posted to Twitter, the president called the $600 checks authorized by the bill “ridiculously low” and complained about a list of provisions that he described as “wasteful spending and much more.”
The lawsuit, filed Tuesday by the Justice Department, says the nation’s largest retailer did not properly screen prescriptions at its 5,000 pharmacies. The agency is seeking civil penalties that could total billions of dollars.
Although lawmakers of both parties long agreed that the practice amounted to abusive billing, a lobbying war between doctors and insurers had thwarted a compromise.
Congress has moved to phase out a class of potent planet-warming chemicals and provide billions of dollars for renewable energy and efforts to suck carbon from the atmosphere.
The bill, approved late Monday by the U.S. House and Senate, will deliver long-sought cash to businesses and individuals and resources to vaccinate a nation confronting a frightening surge in COVID-19 cases and deaths.
The $600 stimulus checks are part of the pending legislation, which includes $300 in weekly unemployment benefits for 11 weeks, aid for small businesses, money for vaccine distribution, and a range of other measures.
Recipients of the federal grants including Beech Grove, Lapel, Thorntown and Edinburgh in the Indianapolis metropolitan area.
The tax break for corporate meal expenses has been denounced by congressional Democrats, but they agreed to the provision in exchange for expanded tax credits for low-income families and the working poor.
The deal includes stimulus checks and would extend unemployment benefits of up to $300 per week, which could start as early as Dec. 27.
The breakthrough came after two days of scrambling that sent tremors across Capitol Hill, as lawmakers realized that a deal badly desired by both sides could fall through at the last minute.
Much-needed doses are set to arrive Monday after the Food and Drug Administration authorized an emergency rollout of the vaccine developed by Moderna Inc. and the National Institutes of Health.
Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., the No. 2 Senate Republican, told reporters Friday afternoon that expectations of a deal by the end of the day reflected “a triumph of hope over experience.”
Vice President Mike Pence became the highest ranking U.S. official to receive the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine on Friday in a live-television event aimed at reassuring Americans the shot is safe.
Bearing down on a midnight shutdown deadline, top negotiators on a must-pass, almost $1 trillion COVID-19 economic relief package are committed to sealing an agreement Friday as they resolve remaining differences.
The hack compromised federal agencies and “critical infrastructure” in a sophisticated attack that was hard to detect and will be difficult to undo, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency said in an unusual warning message.
The pending bill is the first significant legislative response to the pandemic since the landmark CARES Act passed virtually unanimously in March, delivering $1.8 trillion in aid.
The state received $2.4 billion earlier this year from the federal Coronavirus Relief Fund, which was established in the Coronavirus Aid Relief and Economic Security Act. The funding must be used for pandemic-related expenses incurred before Dec. 30.
The package emerging is expected to include hundreds of billions of dollars in aid for ailing small businesses and jobless Americans and a one-time check of between $600 and $700 for millions of Americans below a certain income threshold.