Washington
President Donald Trump on Friday signed into law a nearly half-trillion dollar relief package for the US economy in the latest bid to stave off the crushing effects of the coronavirus shutdown.
The package will pump another $483 billion of government funds into the world’s biggest economy. A majority of the money, which follows a $2.2 trillion rescue fund enacted in March, will be sent to small businesses.
Following Senate approval earlier this week, the bill was passed by the House of Representatives on Thursday as another 4.4 million US workers filed new claims for jobless benefits. That brought total new unemployment claims to 26.4 million since mid-March.
Joblessness has skyrocketed as much of the nation shut down to curb the spread of the virus, which has taken more than 50,000 lives in the US since February. The new package provides $320 billion for small businesses to keep their doors open and pay their workers, after the initial $349 billion in the Paycheck Protection Program was drained in just two weeks.—APP
