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What's In $2.2T Coronavirus Rescue Package

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Yesterday, President Trump signed into law the largest economic rescue package in U.S. history, a $2 trillion package to address the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on people, businesses and other institutions.

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PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I want to thank Republicans and Democrats for coming together, setting aside their differences and putting America first.

MARTIN: The deal includes hundreds of billions of dollars for direct payments to Americans, loans for businesses and money for hospitals. Joining us now to talk about who gets what is NPR congressional reporter Claudia Grisales.

Hello, Claudia.

CLAUDIA GRISALES, BYLINE: Hi there.

MARTIN: All right. So let's cut to the chase. Who will be getting the checks, and when will they get them?

GRISALES: So under the deal, most Americans will get a check. There's $300 billion set aside for these direct payments. And anyone earning less than 99,000 or couples earning less than 198,000 will get something.

The more you make, however, the less you get. So individuals earning less than 75,000 will get a one-time payment of $1,200. Married couples would get double that. And then families would get $500 per child. So a family of four earning less than $150,000 a year can expect $3,400. Now, the checks will phase down after that and disappear completely for people making more than 99,000 or couples making more than that 198,000.

Now, in terms of when you see them, that will depend on how you have filed your taxes. They'll rely on 2019 first. And if that's not filed, they'll look at 2018. If they have your bank information, they'll send it electronically. If not, they have to go through paper checks. Electronically, it could be three weeks. Paper checks - we're not clear yet, but much longer is what we're hearing.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi talked about the need of this legislation. Let's take a listen.

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NANCY PELOSI: The American people deserve a government-wide, visionary, evidence-based response to address these threats to their lives and their livelihood. And they need it now.

MARTIN: And what about the business relief? How is that structured?

GRISALES: So the package includes about $500 billion in loans and other money from major industries such as airlines. Democrats included several provisions to install oversight of how this money is used. They've also banned the use of the funds being used toward stock buybacks or CEO pay boosts. They want to also limit any potential for layoffs during the terms of these loans. They also installed oversight panels for how the money is used.

And although President Trump last night issued a signing statement saying that he was looking to weaken that oversight, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi quickly followed that up last night to say that's not the case. The oversight will continue. In addition to all this, there's $260 billion that will ramp up unemployment insurance. It'll expand from three months to four months of full pay. And the weekly benefit will increase by $600.

MARTIN: That's NPR congressional reporter Claudia Grisales.

Claudia, thank you.

GRISALES: Thanks for having me. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.