President Donald Trump signed a $2 trillion bipartisan stimulus package Friday that is intended to address the threat of economic disaster posed by the coronavirus pandemic.
Trump signed the measure – the largest stimulus in U.S. history – in the Oval Office hours after it was approved by the House of Representatives, an unusually rapid approval that underscored dire warnings of a recession as companies began to lay off workers and U.S. consumers hunkered down in their homes to avoid spreading the virus.
“I want to thank Democrats and Republicans for coming together and putting America first,” Trump said at the signing.
He reflected on how fast coronavirus changed life in the U.S. and the world.
“We got hit by the invisible enemy and we got hit hard,” Trump said
While the president’s signature ended the legislative effort on Capitol Hill, it marked a beginning to the government’s work managing the crisis. Now the Trump administration must rapidly pump hundreds of billions of dollars into the economy in the form of direct payments, loans and grants to hard-hit industries such as the airlines.
The stimulus package will provide $1,200 checks to many Americans – and more for families – while making available hundreds of billions of dollars for companies to maintain payroll through the crisis. It significantly expands the nation’s unemployment safety net and it directs a huge infusion of cash to hospitals and other medical facilities on the front line of fighting the pandemic.