By Alex P. Vidal
“But, at the same time, I think that there is room for economic stimulus in terms of accelerated depreciation to encourage businesses to invest and to grow and ultimately to hire more people again.”—John Breaux
WE should worry no more for our relatives permanently living in the United States who lost their employment since March 2020 due to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
When the pandemic-induced lockdown was first imposed in March, millions of Americans lost their jobs when business establishments closed down.
Some of those affected were hundreds of thousands of Filipino-Americans (Fil-Ams) who regularly sent dollar remittances to their families in the Philippines.
Since the pandemic has been felt almost worldwide, there was a domino effect when those jobless Fil-Ams stopped sending money to their loved ones in the Philippines, who were also hit badly by the COVID-19 juggernaut.
Beginning January 20201, they will receive a one-time direct payment of $600 on top of the $300 a week from the massive $2.3 trillion coronavirus relief and government funding bill signed into law by President Donald Trump on December 27 night.
It also averted a government shutdown that was set to begin on December 29 and extending billions of dollars in coronavirus aid to millions.
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And if the ongoing efforts by the U.S. Congress will materialize, the $600 check could balloon to $2,000, the original amount sought by the Democrats and the primary reason why Mr. Trump, who also demanded $2,000, delayed the signing of the bill into law.
This can be possible because, as of this writing, it was reported that Democrat Senator Bernie Sanders would filibuster an override of President Trump’s defense bill veto unless the Senate holds a vote on providing $2,000 direct payments to Americans.
Sanders told the press on December 28 night: “McConnell and the Senate want to expedite the override vote and I understand that. But I’m not going to allow that to happen unless there is a vote, no matter how long that takes, on the $2,000 direct payment.”
The Vermont independent can’t ultimately stop the veto override vote, but he can delay it until New Year’s Day and make things more difficult for the GOP.
“The American people are desperate, and the Senate has got to do its job before leaving town,” Sanders said. “It would be unconscionable, especially after the House did the right thing, for the Senate to simply leave Washington without voting on this.”
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U.S. Congress passed legislation on December 21 that will extend federal unemployment benefits that were set to expire after Dec. 26.
The Employment Development Department (EDD), now signed into law by Mr. Trump, will implement the new programs when it receives guidelines from the U.S. Department of Labor describing how the states will be required to follow the law.
The EDD, however, is making program adjustments with what information is available so when federal guidelines and details become available, EDD can complete the necessary programming to make these new benefits available as soon as possible.
Legislation passed by Congress extends and expands the federal unemployment benefits as of December 24:
—Restores the federal supplement to recipients of all state and federal unemployment benefits, which will provide $300 per week of additional benefits for weeks beginning after the date of enactment through March 13, 2021.
—Extends the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) program by 11 weeks, providing up to 57 weeks of benefits.
—Extends the Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) program by 11 weeks, providing up to 24 weeks of benefits.
—Allows up to an additional 7 weeks of federally-funded Federal-State Extended Duration Benefits program (FED-ED) through March 14, 2021, providing up to 20 weeks of benefits for those who qualify.
—Provides a supplement of $100 per week to certain “mixed earners” who received at least $5,000 a year in self-employment income but were eligible for regular state unemployment, not Pandemic Unemployment Assistance.
(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two local dailies in Iloilo)
