President – elect Joe Biden on Monday called for a new stimulus package to help the United States recover from the damage caused by coronavirus pandemic .
Biden renewed his plea for more aid following a meeting with business and labour leaders to lay out his plans for the world’ s largest economy .
The type of massive stimulus spending only Washington lawmakers can approve is regarded as key in getting the US back on its feet after the mass layoffs and sharp downturn in growth caused by Covid – 19 , but Republicans and Democrats have been unable to agree on a new package .
Biden, a Democrat who triumphed over Republican President Donald Trump in elections earlier this month , called for Congress to back a $ 2 .2 trillion measure approved by the Democrat – led House of Representatives.
“ It has all the money and capacity to take care of each of those things now . Not tomorrow, now ,” Biden said in a speech in his hometown Wilmington , Delaware, the state he represented for three decades in the Senate .
But Republicans in the Senate have refused to support a measure anywhere near that large, preferring to pass smaller bills targeted at specific needs , which Democratic leaders have rejected .
Congress in March approved the $ 2 .2 trillion CARES Act , which included a program of loans and grants to aid small businesses as well as expanded payments to the workers who lost their jobs .
